New projects will continue this year to dramatically boost the port capacity in British Columbia, with new facilities in Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Kitimat.
Blog
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State legislatures face tall tasks
Legislatures across the region go into session today with long to-do lists.
The Oregonian says this year’s session will answer the question “Is Oregon governable?”
Lawmakers have spent record amounts of time accomplishing less and less. They have made no progress on the state’s most vexing issues: an especially volatile tax system, chronically underfunded schools and universities, a health care crisis and a steadily shrinking state police patrol. All the while, the Capitol has degenerated into a meaner, more partisan, more ethically challenged and more secretive place.
Washington’s legislature faces a series of issues, starting with a two-year budget. Democrats have a strong majority so the outcome will set the stage for next year’s campaigns for governor and other offices statewide.
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Gates Foundation’s practices in question
The Gates Foundation has investments in companies that undermine the goals of the foundation’s philanthropy, according to a long investigation pubished in the Los Angeles Times Sunday.
Using the most recent data available, a Times tally showed that hundreds of Gates Foundation investments totaling at least $8.7 billion, or 41% of its assets, not including U.S. and foreign government securities have been in companies that countered the foundation’s charitable goals or socially concerned philosophy.
The report is generating lots of comments, ranging from suspicion of the foundation’s goals to surprise that the Seattle Times hasn’t covered such a story in its own backyard. Never mind that similar charges could be made against most large pools of money that aim primarily at generating a return on investment.
The article hardly addresses the issue of how the foundation could better invest its $65 billion or so in practice. With such a huge account, at some point the foundation would have to choose between getting a the best possible return or short-changing its charity programs.
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Compromise in the works for Seattle’s viaduct
A compromise appears to be in the works to replace Seattle’s dangerous viaduct without asking voters to decide between a tunnel or new elevated freeway.
Yesterday Gov. Chris Gregoire stepped up pressure to force a solution by threatening to rebuild the viaduct unless the city takes action by spring. She previously punted instead of deciding the fate of the state highway.
Politicians are paid to reach compromises like this rather than pass the tough decisions to voters. A ballot on replacing the freeway would mean a sound bite-filled campaign and inconclusive result (monorail, anyone?) because all the options and financial conditions couldn’t possibly be presented. Instead of a lengthy debate, the city should move ahead with the fastest, least-costly option to replace the aging viaduct: a package of transit and street improvements.
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Health care tops business agenda in Oregon
Improving health care coverage was the surprising theme of a major business conference in Oregon yesterday.
The issue was part of a larger push to make the state’s economy more competitive despite the ups and downs of business cycles. One encouraging sign: the governor appointed a high-profile tech CEO as his top economic advisor.
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New group aims to market Portland area as a region
Companies on the move are about to get a sales pitch highlighting the economic virtues of the Vancouver-Portland metro area rather than individual cities.
The new Four County Economic Development Corp., mimicing similar organizations across the country, aims to recruit companies, keep businesses from leaving the area and increase the role of the private sector in the area.
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Suburbs are the new cities
Seattle’s sense of itself could get a healthy challenge next week when Portland author Matthew Stadler talks about how suburbs increasingly have more diversity and vitality than cities.
It’s an obvious point to anyone who’s visited Bellevue or Burnaby, which are more diverse and affordable than much of their nearby cities. We can quibble with some of the details of his argument, but it’s clear that the major cities are now just part of a metropolis rather than its only center. That’s a reason why transportation and development issues need to be region-wide rather than just within city boundaries.
Here’s how The Stranger describes Stadler’s idea:
He wants to reorient the way we read the city, the way we experience it, the way we code it. He also wants a City Beautiful movement—not a movement where beautiful buildings are forced on the public for the improvement of our ugly souls, but, in a Kantian reversal, a movement where the public projects beauty onto buildings.
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Study: Shortfall threatens Washington ferries
Washington’s ferry system faces a major funding shortfall despite a 62 percent increase in fares since 2001, according to a new study.
Released just as the state legislature returns to session, the study says operations eat up most of the system’s budget, leaving little for infrastructure improvements like a new terminal on Bainbridge Island. Fares would need to rise 5 to 6 percent a year just to stay even — more than some earlier projections.
The system needs to do a better job forecasting passenger demand and should charge more during peak times to encourage travel during less-busy periods, the study says.
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Cascadia’s housing may be the “revenge of the small”
BusinessWeek.com says Portland, Seattle and Vancouver are making such strong efforts to encourage urban housing that visiting them is like going to a different country.
We won’t deny the similarities across Cascadia. But there’s a big gap among the cities when it comes to the transit and zoning that makes urban housing liveable.
Still, the article highlights progress, including how small, well-designed houses are going onto lots formerly of large single houses with yards. Apparently this offers more liveable space than refitting existing buildings with mother-in-law apartments.
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Port of Seattle names new CEO
The Port of Seattle named a veteran of the real estate and port industries as its new leader. There’s reason to be cautiously optimistic about the choice.
Initial reports say Tay Yoshitani, a 60-year-old former Army captain and Harvard MBA, will be a big change in personality and management approach for the struggling port. The often-divided Seattle port commission unanimously picked Yoshitani, who had won praise for improving operations as the deputy director at the Port of Oakland.Already the Seattle P-I’s editorialists seem to be popping champagne because of Yoshitani’s reputation for openness.
Annual compensation of $356,000 will make Yoshitani the country’s best-paid port CEO and he may even earn it as he tries to reverse declines at Sea-Tac airport and at Seattle’s harbor, while reducing the port’s tax on King County residents.
Surely he will be a sharp contrast with current CEO Mic Dinsmore, who has controlled the port for 14 years. Yoshitani’s resume suggests a new approach, said Rich Berkowitz, local head of a maritime trade organization and a former candidate for Port commission.
“Mic came from operations and had a lot of time on the docks, moving cargo. But he became a supernova and that made him an expert in things he shouldn’t have been,” Berkowitz said. “Just from his resume, Yoshitani is going to have a new approach.”
