Cascadia Report

Blog

  • Questions about port rivalry

    News that one of Seattle’s oldest port customers is moving to Tacoma brought a variety of reactions. And unanswered questions.

    The Port of Seattle seemed alarmed, saying Tacoma’s wooing of NYK Line put the relationship between the ports at risk. Today Bill Virgin notes that, if they can’t cooperate, maybe Tacoma should take over Seattle’s port.

    A few remaining questions:

    — If NYK Line (or another company) wants to operate its own piers, why does Seattle keep its arrangement with operator SSA?

    — What does the deal cost Tacoma? Reportedly the project is $300 million, which may include building costs for any port tenant. What will the NYK arrangement cost taxpayers?

    — What’s the competitive advantage of Tacoma (or Seattle) versus other ports along the West Coast? Seattle has been losing business and Tacoma’s recent gain is Seattle’s futher loss. Both will have to answer that question to beat regional rivals.

    I’d like to see the region’s mainstream media tackle those questions next.

  • Tacoma’s parking plans lead region

    Tacoma may set an example for other Cascadia cities with a comprehensive parking plan that includes provisions for more transit and bicycle facilities.

    Best of all is talk of combining market forces and public investment to make the city work better. Here’s how the city manager put it:

    When it comes to parking, “nobody wants to become Seattle,” Anderson said. “Portland is the one that’s held up as pretty good, but we’d like to be better than Portland.”

    Among the recommendations:

    — Make the city’s parking system self-supporting with revenue from pay stations and garages. Use cost to regulate demand and setting parking prices at a level that maintains a 15 percent vacancy rate. (Brilliant! Why not do it with meters around the clock?)

    — Build a citywide streetcar system that connects downtown with other neighborhoods.

    — Build a citywide system for bikes and pedestrians using trails and street rights-of-way.

  • Running a global business from Cascadia

    Getty Images is moving some of its headquarters functions from Seattle to New York City, reportedly because it’s easier to do some international business there.

    It begs the question: Is operating a global business from the Northwest a hardship? Nintendo plans to move. Six years ago, the departure of Boeing’s headquarters was blamed partly on the difficulty of doing business from Seattle.

    Yes, global firms like Microsoft, Weyerhaueuser, Starbucks and Paccar somehow muddle through. But maybe there’s a wake-up call for the region in the latest moves.

  • Even Idaho may move on transit

    Even the governor of Idaho is identifying steps that can be taken now to improve traffic congestion.

    The Idaho Statesman reports that the anti-tax Republican plans to boost the number of employees who telecommute and to do more to eliminate daily trips. Unfortunately there’s little talk of changing the car-dependent layout of towns that inevitably brings congestion.

    In addition to managing demand for roads, it seems clear that infrastructure is needed to move more people. Luckily the community is on board with the idea of improving Boise’s transit system, at least according to this report.

    Meanwhile, back in Seattle, there’s a new ad campaign seeking to convince voters that doing nothing is a better strategy. Let’s hope the region doesn’t miss its latest opportunity.

  • Seattle-area candidate ratings released

    There are several mild surprises in the Municipal League’s ratings of candidates for 26 races in the Seattle area.

    The annual nonpartisan ratings, released Tuesday, are based on four criteria: Knowledge, Involvement, Effectiveness and Character. They assess each candidate’s potential to be effective in office and ability to serve the community. They don’t consider political affiliations or stands on particular issues.

    I’m a trustee of the League so I’ll just pass on the news, including a few upsets:

    — At the Port of Seattle, challengers Jack Block Jr. and Gael Tarleton got Outstanding ratings while incumbent Bob Edwards was rated Good. Commissioner Alec Fisken got an Outstanding while challenger William Bryant got a Very Good.

    — For Seattle City Council position 1, incumbent Jean Godden got a Good, the same as challenger Joe Swaja. For position 7, challenger Tim Burgess got an Outstanding while incumbent David Della got a Very Good.

    The rest of the results and complete definitions of the ratings are posted here.

    This year’s ratings are the result of the work of more than 60 citizens who studied the public record, reviewed candidate questionnaires, checked references and conducted live interviews with the candidates. (As a League trustee, I was one of the people who reviewed the ratings.)

  • Solving Seattle’s housing crunch

    Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels wants to give more tax breaks to developers to encourage them to build moderately priced housing. But there are better ways to make housing affordable.

    The mayor’s plan would expand tax breaks for developers who build homes for people who earn middle-income wages. That’s a well-intentioned step to meet a legitimate need.

    Instead the city would be better off encouraging significantly larger buildings, especially along transit corridors. Why not allow 25-story condos in places where there’s good infrastructure and they don’t overwhelm neighbors? How about along I-5 near the UW, on major corners of Capitol Hill and next to the light rail station in the Rainier Valley? On this issue, even Federal Way is ahead of Seattle.

    Other critical steps are improving in-city transit to serve those buildings and then making neighbohoods more walkable. Expand the streetcar and bus system (and replace the Viaduct with busways) so people can more easily survive without a car. If a middle-class family of four could survive with one car or no car, suddenly Seattle would be a lot more affordable.

    It won’t be easy to build support for these changes, even though more housing supply would lower prices for middle-income and poorer residents. The city would need to guarantee good design, which hasn’t been the case with cookie-cutter townhomes overtaking some neighborhoods.

    What’s clear is that cutting property taxes starves the city of resources to provide services like parks, police and transit. Even so it’s far from clear that extra tax credits would be enough to lure more development.

  • Low unemployment means strikes

    What happens when a red-hot economy leaves the number of jobs and workers closely balanced?

    In British Columbia and Alberta, workers are going on strike. There are a variety of issues behind the disputes but the underlying catalyst is that employees have the upper hand for the first time after years of stagnation.

  • What Vancouver can learn about rail building

    Seattle’s nascent light rail line was showered with praise this week — in Vancouver.

    The reason is the $50 million fund set up to help businesses impacted by construction of the light rail line through the Rainier Valley. Apparently there’s no such support for business during construction of the Canada Line, which will connect downtown Vancouver, the airport and Richmond.

    It’s odd to hear praise of Seattle’s transit efforts from Vancouver, which has had rail transit for more than two decades and is considering building a fourth line. But a representative of a Vancouver neighborhood suggested B.C.’s free-market loving government might support a Seattle-style fund: “It’s a classic American approach,” he said. “It’s seen as an economic initiative to ensure a tax base, not as a handout. I thought the Campbell government might embrace this approach.”

    Seattle’s Rainier Valley has been showered with support during the rail project, ever since the decision was made years ago to build that section at-grade instead of underground. Just wait until the surge of newcomers and gentrification when the line opens in 2009.

  • Seattle’s latest shot at China flights

    An airline that offers only business class seats wants to start flights between Seattle and Shanghai, a surprise entry in the race for more connections to China.

    Beginning in 2009, MaxJet would fly to Seattle and on to Los Angeles. The airline faces stiff competition from other U.S. airlines — at least seven applications have been filed for a handfull of flights allowed under a U.S.-China treaty, according to AviationWeek.

    Seattle wants nonstop connections to China to jumpstart business and tourism. Meanwhile Vancouver has daily flights to Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. This month a new airlines started nonstops between Hong Kong and Vancouver, meaning there are now 30 flights a week on that route.

  • Density coming to the suburbs

    Suburban Federal Way picked a Vancouver developer to build a residential, retail and office complex with 22-story towers in its new downtown.

    The project will bring more than 900 housing units to an area known for sprawling parking lots. Judging from images in the article above, the development will have character similar to those in British Columbia. If done well, the project could help wear down resistance to the idea of residential towers in the Seattle area.

    More housing supply also will help meet growing demand, especially now that Federal Way’s single-family neighborhoods are developed, and provide a market for better transit.