Cascadia Report

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Gauging the philanthropy industry’s economic impact

The philanthropy industry is an important development in the Seattle area, but there’s little evidence to support the claim in a Seattle Times article that it may drive the economy.

The state is home to about 200 organizations that “identified their work as having an impact on global health,” according to a University of Washington study cited in the article. But even the Gates Foundation — by far the world’s largest — will add just 200 positions to administer its growing programs. Though local entrepreneurs and wealthy retirees are increasingly involved and conferences here attract renowned speakers, the article doesn’t provide evidence of a deeper economic impact.

January 18, 2007
Options narrow for replacing Seattle viaduct

The idea of a tunnel to replace Seattle’s waterfront freeway appears dead after the governor and key legislators rejected the latest proposal. So now what?

The state says it demands action because the existing viaduct — a state highway — could collapse. If that’s true, then it should immediately begin working on ways to handle the existing traffic and begin closing the road.

Unfortunately the only apparent action is more debate. Why not invest existing funds in improved roads and transit? Don’t waste time and money on advisory votes or a protracted fight between Seattle and the state over a new viaduct.

January 18, 2007
Whole Foods coming to downtown Tacoma?

A “national organic foods chain” may open in a proposed mixed-use development in Tacoma’s downtown, a move that could jumpstart the already growing neighborhood.

The grocery story, which would be the area’s first, reportedly wants slightly more than 50,000 square feet — roughly the size of Whole Foods stores. The project would also include a hotel, restaurants and housing.

January 18, 2007
Why highway tolls should start now

If tolls are part of any future solution to regional traffic congestion, why not start charging now? That’s the proposal by two economists for Seattle’s 520 freeway bridge.

They suggest imposing tolls on the bridge immediately and delaying a decision on how to rebuild the structure for five years. Meanwhile tolls would generate funds for new construction and help determine how drivers actually respond to tolls (maybe differently than models suggest).

January 18, 2007
Amtrak matching funds could boost regional trains

Passenger rail service could be expanded under legislation to make federal matching funds available to states that invest in Amtrak service.

Washington and Oregon should continue to invest, with incremental infrastructure improvements to make trains an alternative to driving or flying. A similar bill was bottled up in Congress last fall but apparently has a better chance with Democrats in control.

Several trains daily between Portland and Vancouver are currently funded by the states, a subsidy that works out to less than for buses and other forms of transit, according to The Columbian. The matching funds could be used for infrastructure, while leveling the transportation playing field by charging more for use of airports and highways.

January 18, 2007
Comcast to charge more for cable TV

Comcast is raising fees for cable TV in the Portland area by 4 percent, a move it says is needed to cover investments to improve service. It isn’t charging more for Internet or telephone service, markets where it faces competition.

In the Portland area, the cost of Comcast’s standard service has increased every year for the past decade at several times the rate of inflation, according to the Oregonian. Satellite and fiber-optic systems are still too small to compete, said David Olson, director of the Mt. Hood Cable Regulatory Commission.

With the latest rate increase, Olson said the cost of standard cable has ballooned 117 percent from a decade ago, when Congress deregulated most price controls over the cable industry under the provisions of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. General consumer prices in the Western United States increased about 33 percent over the same period, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

January 17, 2007
Campaign aims to fund Puget Sound passenger ferries

A campaign is underway to convince Kitsap County voters to raise the sales tax to fund a network of passenger ferries to Seattle from Kingston, Bremerton, Port Orchard and Southworth.

The proposal is a less-costly version of a plan voters rejected in 2003. Backers say the new foot-ferry proposal is attractive now for several reasons: higher fares on state ferries, increased gas prices, a new toll on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and two failed attempts by purely private companies to set up a service. Residents in the central part of the county are debating how much the service would benefit their economy — even if they don’t use it.

January 17, 2007
B.C. launching trade school to train workers

British Columbia is launching an institute to teach industrial trades, a step it hopes will help fill the gap for skilled workers.

The center, in Chilliwack, opens this fall and should have space for 1,800 students on campus by the end of the decade. That barely addresses the province’s growing need for skilled workers.

January 17, 2007
Dispute over proposed B.C. mine widens

A proposal for a new coal mine north of Glacier National Park is becoming the latest transborder dispute over Cascadia water.

Montana officials are worried that a new mine in British Columbia would pollute the headwaters of the Flathead River, which is key to the state’s recreation-based industry. B.C. would get the economic benefit of the mine.

Gov. Brian Schweitzer reportedly wants to publicize the potential environmental impacts in Vancouver and get Washington, D.C., involved. Sen. Max Baucus plans to ask the U.S. General Accountability Office to investigate whether B.C.’s government has been following its own environmental laws. He’s also looking into a lawsuit under NAFTA and threatened to take the issue to the mine operator’s investors in Germany and Japan. “There’s a lot of ways to skin a cat,” he told the Missoulian.

January 16, 2007
Investors boot timber company execs as results sour

The hedge fund that owns one of British Columbia’s biggest timber companies pushed out its top executives. Catalyst Paper is performing poorly in a slumping market and it remains to be seen how the investors will get a return on their money.

January 16, 2007