Cascadia Report – Page 34

Portland project tries new approach to lure residents

Developers of a new riverside neighborhood in central Portland are luring residents by coordinating social events to simulate the connections typically found in existing urban communities.

The neighborhood was built from the ground up on formerly industrial land south of downtown on the Willamette River. Its approach is based on several projects in British Columbia, according to The Oregonian, and differs from typical developments in the nearby Pearl District, where shops and restaurants predate the community.

December 10, 2006
In memoriam of Cascadia’s finest

It’s not unheard-of for a police officer to die while doing their dangerous job. But it’s rare for such a loss to be mourned by an entire community — as it was this week in Seattle.

Sheriff’s Deputy Steve Cox, later described by area residents as a “superman,” was shot in the head while trying to apprehend a murder suspect in south Seattle last week. Cox, who had given up a law career in order to fight crime as a street cop, apparently touched thousands of residents of the White Center neighhborhood. He spent his off hours helping to build the community, became a stabilizing force to residents and shopkeepers, and was even elected to lead the neighborhood council.

After a long procession through the area Friday morning, about 2,400 turned out for the funeral. Representatives from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police came from British Columbia, along with counterparts from Oregon and Idaho. It makes you wonder who are the other heroes in our midst who don’t get recognition until they’re gone.

December 10, 2006
Cost of delaying Seattle transport fixes keeps rising

The cost of delaying Seattle-area transportation improvements continues to rise, with new estimates for a series of road projects adding to the existing price of lost time and inefficiency.

Overall road-project costs are likely to rise 20 percent from current estimates, former state Senate transportation head Jim Horn told The Seattle Times. The same story says material costs alone increased 8 percent a year from 2001 to 2005.

The new estimates, which are supposed to be officially unveiled in coming weeks, complicate planning for a package of transit and roads to be sent to voters in the three Seattle-area counties next fall. Some officials are already talking about trimming the budget and looking for alternatives.

No one should be surprised by the higher costs. One study found that congestion costs an average of $620 per person per year, counting fuel and lost productivity. While region has pondered which projects to build and how to pay for them, borrowing costs and commodities prices kept rising.

The solution may be more projects, not fewer. More congestion pricing on roads would raise funds and help smoothe demand while expanded transit would provide alternatives to those roads.

December 9, 2006
Business struggles for stance on Oregon tax plan

Business groups in Oregon are struggling to find a common position on a proposed increase in corporate taxes.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski suggested about $300 million in additional taxes to fund basic education, health care and other state programs. Oregon reportedly has the highest personal income taxes in the nation, but corporations pay less than 5 percent of the state budget, the smallest share of any state, according to The Oregonian.

The question is whether Republicans, who last month lost control of the legislature for the first time since 1989, are willing to end a 20-year trend of tax cuts. Business groups appear divided on the issue. Nike spokesperson Julia Brim-Edwards told The Oregonian that the company supports a tax increase because it would fund investments to make Oregon a better place to live and work.

December 8, 2006
Border hassles are costing business

Commerical truck drivers from Canada have been fined, detained for hours and threatened with confiscation of their U.S.-issued identity cards for bringing undeclared lunch meat into the U.S.

It’s one example of how over-zealous border security is becoming a serious hurdle to business. About 100,000 fewer trucks crossed the border during the first nine months of 2006 than during last year and various border delays add up to additional costs of up to C$600 million, according to the Canadian Trucking Alliance.

It seems that the confiscation of an sticker-less apple at the Blaine border crossing wasn’t an isolated incident.

December 7, 2006
Vancouver losing well-paid HQ jobs

British Columbia is hemorrhaging headquarters jobs as big companies consolidate elsewhere, replacing high-paying office work with an economy based on trade and tourism.

The province lost 29 percent of its head office jobs between 1999 and 2005. Though B.C. has low unemployment and is likely to keep adding jobs overall, just 53 of Canada’s top 500 companies are based there, down from 58 in 2004, according to the Financial Post. One blog notes that you can buy an overpriced house in Vancouver, but you can’t get a pizza, a burger or a coffee because there aren’t enough people to do those jobs.

The trend matters because head offices cluster talent, and the jobs mean related work in law, accounting and other industries. according to the Business Council of B.C. The group wants the government to nurture mid-sized companies, cut taxes to make the province more appealing and “market Greater Vancouver to external corporate decision-makers.”

Contrast the situation with Washington and Oregon. The Seattle area has five companies on the Fortune Global 500 list of top companies by sales: Costco, Weyerhaeuser, Microsoft, Paccar and Washington Mutual. Portland has Nike. Vancouver has none.

December 7, 2006
Tacoma rail line draws development

Expanding rail service in Tacoma has enticed a developer to turn a former mattress factory into a complex of retail and more than 300 condos near the Tacoma Dome.

The former Spring Air mattress factory is across the street from stations for the Sounder commuter rail line to Seattle and light rail to downtown Tacoma, and a block from the Amtrak station. The condos supposedly will be more affordable than recent projects, likely aimed at commuters.

December 6, 2006
Why Seattle needs to plan regionally

Seattle may be the heart of the Puget Sound region, but the area’s arteries are carrying people further afield.

Consider that that Seattle isn’t much bigger geographically than its Eastside suburbs. It accounts for a steadily smaller share of King County’s population and commuter traffic increasingly heads out of Seattle during the work day. All this means that planning for transportation and housing needs to serve the entire region.

During last month’s deluge there were many comparison’s to Nov. 1933, the wettest month on record. A Seattle Times story about that era mentioned that Seattle then had 365,000 people, about 200,000 less than now. Meanwhile King County has swelled from 465,000 in 1930 to 1.8 million now. In other words, the city’s share of the total has shrunk to less than a third.

Traffic patterns have shifted even more. Going from Seattle to work on the Eastside is still considered the “reverse commute,” though in fact more traffic makes the trip. More vehicles go to the Eastside in the mornings during each peak hour (3,830 eastbound vs. 3,710 westbound) and return to Seattle in the evening (4,020 westbound vs. 3,580 eastbound), according to a state Department of Transportation study. Thanks to buses going downtown, more people travel to Seattle in the morning (6,810 westbound vs. 5,850 eastbound) and to the Eastside in the evening (6,390 westbound vs. 6,440 eastbound).

Some ways to address these patterns? The region could build a relatively inexpensive surface-and-transit replacement for the viaduct freeway, rebuild the 520 bridge for transit, significantly expand light rail and develop the Eastside rail line into a new transit corridor.

December 6, 2006
Downtown Vancouver faces crunch for work space

Vancouver has been so successful at luring people to live downtown that it may run out of room for new jobs.

City policies have helped push the downtown population to about 80,000. New data show that the city may run out of space for jobs downtown in as soon as five years. Planners are considering allowing higher towers — which have been limited to protect views — and may offer incentives for office developers.

Seattle, which often seems to lust after Vancouver’s vibrant downtown, recently okayed zoning rules to allow more residential growth in the city core. But there’s little chance of a space crunch there, thanks to its large area and abundant freeways stretching to the suburbs.

December 6, 2006
New transport head key to regional fixes

The new leader of the House transportation committee may boost chances for improvement in the Seattle area’s transportation network.

Rep. Judy Clibborn (41st, Mercer Island) supports long-term transportation investment, for example by voting for a 9.5 cent increase in state gas taxes in 2005 to pay for statewide road and rail projects. During an earlier session she told me via email that, if she had her way, she would raise gas taxes by 20 cents or more in order to finish the projects the region needs. She also supported the idea of widespread congestion pricing.

Most reports about the appointment focus on how Clibborn opposes replacing Seattle’s waterfront viaduct freeway with a tunnel. She was one of 30 Democrats who signed a letter to the governor stating the obvious — that the state can’t afford the project and still build rail and replace the 520 bridge. The letter was written by House Speaker Frank Chopp, who happens to control appointments in the House and supports a penny-wise, pound-foolish rebuilding of the viaduct.

But Clibborn’s appointment may make a surface-and-transit replacement for the viaduct possible. She replaces Ed Murray, who is moving to the state Senate and recently penned his own letter to the governor urging a look at the cost and traffic implications of a surface package. When the rebuild-versus-tunnel debate bogs down, let’s hope Clibborn can help steer the toward the the surface option as part of a regional fix .

December 5, 2006