Making plans for the Labor Day weekend, I was dismayed at the weather predication for Saturday on Cliff Mass' excellent blog on Thursday. "Cancel your hike on Saturday," he declared as if reading my mind.
My partner and I had planned to go up to Deer Park or Hurricane Ridge' [...]
The Fall issue of Washington Law & Politics is out with a great cover and interesting interviews with its two cover-boys: Gary Locke and Ron Sims. Both Seattle pols are now part of the Obama administration in high-profile positions: Locke as Commerce Secretary and Sims as number two in [...]
One of the attractions of urban density is the ability for everyone to walk to the store, to have one's commercial needs met within a few busy blocks. We all like the idea of living near a great cafe, a small grocer stocked with locally grown produce, maybe even a [...]
The best thing about local politics is that it's usually difficult to look at it through a strictly partisan lens: there's nothing left or right about fixing potholes. Seattle, being close to a one-party town, has candidates who vie for the endorsement of Democratic district regulars, so candidates are often [...]
Coming off of a terrible August for health care reform, one thing is clear: the effort needs to be re-branded. Recently, Washington's savvy Democratic House Speaker Frank Chopp shared some advice with Crosscut on the subject of branding liberal initiatives, including the importance of dumping alphabet soup and finding [...]
I'm fascinated by this story of 13-year-old girl Laura Dekker who wants to sail solo around the world. She was born and raised on a boat by her parents while they were on an around-the-world trip. She's an accomplished sailor, but the Dutch authorities are trying to prohibit such' [...]
In the recent debate comparing Vancouver, BC and Seattle, I quoted Peter Steinbrueck as saying that Belltown was the densest neighborhood in the state. A frequent Crosscut commenter attacked that assertion saying that Belltown isn't even the densest neighborhood in the city:
Belltown is nowhere near the densest in the' [...]
One thing a mossback can like about mayoral candidate Mike McGinn: he's got a full beard. If elected in that state, that fact would make him unique for a Seattle mayor in this century, or the last. In fact, facial hair on our mayors has been out of fashion [...]
By all accounts, Greg Nickels' concession speech was a hit, showing the mayor in the best light, as someone with humor, feelings, and a track record he's proud of. (Also a writer's flair, since Hizzoner reportedly wrote the speech himself.) Barely was it over than commentators began to stir the' [...]
Harvard economist Edward Glaeser is skeptical about high-speed rail as an economic stimulus strategy. The Obama administration has laid out a plan for investing in corridors around the country, including the Vancouver, BC to Eugene, OR stretch here in the Pacific Northwest, a route pushed by groups such [...]
Earlier this summer, Seattleites worried whether or not there were any qualified candidates to take on a vulnerable Greg Nickels. Tim Burgess, Peter Steinbrueck, Richard Conlin, Greg Smith, and others passed on the challenge this time around, leaving the campaign so bereft that sex columnist Dan Savage threatened the city [...]
Adding names to the map can be complicated, especially if two countries are involved. The proposal to create an "umbrella" name for the inland waters of the Northwest, designating as the Salish Sea the waters from British Columbia's Desolation Sound to Washington's southern Puget Sound, is an example. First, [...]
I had a chance to talk with Washington House Speaker Frank Chopp (D-Seattle) at Crosscut's weekly editorial brown bag lunch. Given that Chopp is a politician with strong populist sensibilities (progressive populism) and that he's a former community organizer, and that he has in his charge a number of Democratic [...]
The GOP and far-right media have been working hard to define socialism down. Now everything is socialist: healthcare reform, the New Deal, the Great Society, even presumably Bo Obama, the president's federally housed dog.
Even GOP icons are socialists under the new definition: Ike's Interstate Highway system, Teddy Roosevelt's parks, [...]
I recently received an envelope in the mail offering a "Free Pre-Paid Cremation!" I figured it was either a note from an irate reader or a sign that Obama's "death panels" were up and running.
Since I'm not dead quite yet, the offer seemed premature. Turned out it was from Neptune' [...]
In some cities, usually big cities, politics is a spectator sport. City Hall is often a prime beat, and columnists and bloggers pick over every insider tidbit, boondoggle, affair, and public poll. In Boston, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco, citizens keep scorecards of who’s up, who’s down and who’s [...]
The group Friends of Seattle has released its endorsements for the upcoming primary.
FOS is a fairly new, quite green group. I wonder why greens always rally around "friendship." Wouldn't a group that really cared about Seattle want to be more than friends? Friends with benefits at least? And' [...]
Last March I asked if Gary Locke could save the world's fair, Shanghai's Expo 2010. United States participation in the fair has been in doubt, and became a potential threat to U.S.-China relations. The fair will be the largest world's fair in history, attracting an estimated 70 million visitors [...]
On the first fare-day of Sound Transit's Link Light Rail line, I took the afternoon to try out the system. It turned into an unexpected pleasure.
First stop was the Metro center at Westlake to pick up an Orca card, which can be used to pay fares on regional buses, rail, [...]
Danny Westneat bravely steps up in his column this Sunday (July 19) to take a contrarian position: He puffs up Greg Nickels, Seattle's deeply unpopular (but likely to be re-elected) Mayor.
Westneat contends that despite the critics, Mayor Nickels is no Chicago-style pol, no Mayor Richard Daley-style strongman. "I've known'" [...]
The Seattle Times story about Starbucks ditching its brand on Capitol Hill and hiding behind the guise of an indie coffeehouse was hard to ignore. At my neighborhood Tully's, the piece was posted prominently and the barista was happy to highlight some of the details, especially the parts about' [...]
With the Olympia press corps dropping like murder victims in a manor house crime novel (think Agatha Christie's Ten Little Indians, electeds and policy makers are reaching out in new directions. State Attorney General Rob McKenna invited a group of bloggers to come down to his Seattle office last [...]
Two juries have deliberated but their verdicts are not yet known. The Seattle Chapter of the American Institute of Architects is sponsoring a program called FutureShack which invited Washington state architects to submit recent residential projects, from bungalows to lofts to high rises, for judging by two panels, one [...]
I spent some time recently prowling around the new Sound Transit light rail line in the Rainier Valley (service starts July 18) on foot and by car. I'm interested in the changes to this area. These are some of the stomping grounds of my youth and I still find' [...]
Churches embody most of what preservationists and urban planners look for in good cities: They are community gathering places, often boasting impressive architecture. They're distinctive and literal landmarks that broadcast historic, cultural, sometimes ethnic, and also spiritual identities in their respective neighborhoods. Preserving them is also difficult, as Peter' [...]
Andrews Bay off Seward Park was filling up with boats for the July 4th weekend. On Thursday morning, I counted five anchored boats getting an early start. By Friday morning, there were five times that number. It helps that the sky was blue and the temperature warm (nearly 70 at [...]
The Northwest native Great White Worm of the Palouse country is rarely found. Does that mean it's endangered? I explored that question in story "Is a species endangered if you can't find it?" in 2007. The rarely seen or captured worm was once reported as "abundant" in the rich' [...]
People in Seattle are green green green. We're a leader on Kyoto, we hate plastic bottles and shopping bags, and our politicians often jockey over who is more green than the other. Candidates for office vie for key endorsements from groups like the Cascade Bicycle Club, Washington Conservation Voters, and' [...]
I'm going through my notes from the Vancouver/Seattle debate and have found a number of interesting tidbits that weren't in my original story. Here's a notebook dump of some odds and ends.
Call it the Lady Godiva Rule
Seattle's Peter Steinbrueck criticized his home town for allowing high-rises to be built [...]
I'm often a pitchfork waver, someone quick to get upset about the excesses of the wealthy. I occasionally contribute items to Crosscut under the headline "Rich Jerk Watch." Which brings me to this week's brouhaha over a possible Rep. Jim McDermott earmark for the Rainier Club to help' [...]
So far, so good. Last I checked, the only station broadcasting old-school-style was still KING-TV with its endless post-apocalyptic loop featuring Glenn Farley telling whoever might hear him how to go digital. It's like one of those video tapes they find in bunkers on Lost. I keep wondering if there [...]
There's a proposal making the rounds to designate a large chunk of Washington's coastline a National Maritime Heritage Area. Such an area would require an act of Congress.
The proposed Heritage zone would extend up Washington's Pacific coast from Gray's Harbor and include the Strait of Juan de Fuca and [...]
A huge complaint of Seattleites over the years has been the proliferation of skinny houses, tall thin abodes jammed onto lots and eating up open space. But skinny houses are proliferating in Portland as part of in-fill strategies there, and some neighborhoods aren't happy about it. The current plan is' [...]
Two of the region's civic heavyweights squared off at the Seattle Public Library on June 18 to settle the issue about which of Cascadia's two biggest cities has the best built environment, Seattle or Vancouver, BC. It was a rematch of a debate conducted earlier in the week in Vancouver, [...]
One of the ways Seattle has improved — and could continue to get better — is in its offerings of "street food." I'm in favor of a proliferation of stands, carts, buses, sidewalk and parking lot eating options throughout the city.
Street food should be for locals, not just tourists. I' [...]
Recently, there was an event at the UW's Gould Hall showcasing the career of 87-year-old Seattle architect Wendell Lovett, whose work ranges from mid-century modern homes (like his house in Bellevue's Hilltop neighborhood) to contemporary geek gothic structures like the Charles Simonyi mansion ("Villa Simonyi") in Medina. The [...]
My recent story, "Six things you cannot say Seattle" generated a lot of response, evidence of the story's Twitterability and that it seems to have struck a chord. Seattle's famously mushy discourse has resulted in a build-up of verboten opinion. The culture of consensus is discomfited by disagreement.
My list [...]
Historic Seattle, the non-profit, public development authority that saves historic buildings and gives them life with new uses, has purchased the landmark Washington Hall for $1.5 million from the Sons of Haiti masonic organization. The deal closed today (June 12). Washington Hall was listed on the Washington Trust for [...]
Seattle's Pike Place Market fish tossers are under fire. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) recently objected to a fish-tossing exhibition for a veterinarian's convention. A PETA spokesperson said "Killing animals so you can toss their bodies around for amusement is just twisted," although it should [...]
I fired-up my Advent Friday morning to see if anything was on, and most stations were still broadcasting before 9 am. The exception: KCTS, which has always been a digital pioneer. I received an email from Daphne Adair, the station's communication specialist on Thursday. She said the following:
[W]e’re eager to [...]
Historic Seattle, the non-profit, public development authority that saves historic buildings and gives them life with new uses, has purchased the landmark Washington Hall for $1.5 million from the Sons of Haiti masonic organization. The deal closed today (June 12). Washington Hall was listed on the Washington Trust for [...]
Newcomers to Seattle quickly find that we’re a cultural minefield of prejudice and political correctness that can blow up in your face if you misstep. So here’s a list of conversation stoppers — things you just can’t say in polite company. Clip and save this column; it may save you [...]
Just like in the old TV series The Outer Limits, I am about to lose control of my television set. As a consequence of a government mandate to switch to digital broadcasting by Friday, June 12, my analog set is about to go blank. Like millions of others folks, [...]
The Sunday New York Times spoiled my morning. No, it wasn't details of Wall Street's continuing criminality or news of a daycare fire, awful as those are. But rather a book review by Florence Williams of Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend by Joshua Blu Buhs. I haven't [...]
In a close 6-5 vote of on June 3, the Seattle landmarks Board approved the Washington Department of Transportation's plan to install anti-suicide fencing on the historic bridge. Some preservationists and neighborhood groups, like the Queen Anne Community Council, opposed the project saying it was not in keeping with [...]
This summer the city of Seattle is celebrating the centennial of the city's first world's fair, the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909. But another world's fair anniversary in Seattle has been targeted for a major event, this one on a global scale.
The Prosperity Partnership, a coalition of business and trade [...]
The ultimate Northwest beach reading this summer is Flotsametrics and the Floating World by Seattleites Curtis Ebbesmeyer and Eric Scigliano (Smithsonian Books, $26.99). The book's subtitle is "How one man's obsession with runaway sneakers and rubber ducks revolutionized ocean science." That man would be Ebbesmeyer, who you may have read [...]
The Washington Department of Transportation wants to move ahead to put new barriers on the George Washington Memorial Bridge — commonly known as the Aurora Bridge — to help keep people from jumping off. They've tried other techniques, like installing phones, but the rain of bodies continues. It's the' [...]
Okay, this is really interesting because it turns some conventional wisdom on its head. It turns out that the suburbs are not populated with urban refugees. Writing at NewGeography, Wendell Cox comes across what he calls an "unexpected truth:"
Much has been written about how suburbs have taken people away [...]
Editor's note: This speech was given last week at the 35th anniversary celebration and awards banquet of Historic Seattle.
It's great to be here with you this evening under the stained glass of the Arctic Club Hotel. This historic building looms large in my mind because of its walrus "gargoyles," the [...]
This weekend marks the city of Seattle's official kick-off of the centennial of Seattle's first world's fair, the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. Most Seattleites don't know that we had a fair before 1962's Century 21 Expo, but Seattle was one of many cities to host these civic coming out parties in' [...]
The Washington Trust for Historic Preservation has announced that the Seattle P-I Globe tops their 2009 list of endangered historic properties. The familiar, neon-lit globe was constructed by PACCAR and is a true landmark, currently sited above the waterfront offices of Seattlepi.com, the online daily that has replaced the newspaper [...]
This weekend marks the city of Seattle's official kick-off of the centennial of Seattle's first world's fair, the 1909 Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition. Most Seattleites don't know that we had a fair before 1962's Century 21 Expo, but Seattle was one of many cities to host these civic coming out parties in' [...]
At the May 15 meeting of the Washington State Board of Geographic Names, the board decided to formally consider naming the salt waters from Puget Sound to Desolation Sound in British Columbia the Salish Sea. The idea was first proposed in the late 1980s but tabled for lack of [...]
Starbucks continues to battle to get its brand back, which is a tricky thing as Jon Talton points out in a recent column in the Seattle Times. Howard Schultz argues that the coffee company's brand is still relevant, but as Talton notes, "if you have to say it..."
Starbucks has [...]
I recently spent some vacation time in the Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia. On the way up, I passed through Metaline Falls, in northeastern Washington. It's an hour or so north from Spokane, but this corner feels about as remote as anywhere in Washington. I remember in the 1980s [...]
In January, a Seattle Times editorial predicted the tough legislative session would produce "audible ouches and shrieks reflecting the pain of a thousand budget cuts." But at the Times, the state dominant newspaper company which is itself enduring financial setbacks, the sound you might hear is a squeal of [...]
Cascadia boosters come in two main flavors: Ecotopians and business boosters. The greens want to let the environmental and spiritual health of the bio-region guide our politics; the boosters see prosperity through trade and economic cooperation.
Thus, Cascadians might wave "Old Doug," the Cascadian flag, on behalf of separate, but [...]
Seattle was built on a foundation laid by drunks. In 1855, the U.S Navy stationed a boatload of sailors and marines in Elliott Bay to protect the our pioneers from hostile Indians. Instead, they should have sent in the Army to protect the grog-soaked sailors from the predators ashore who [...]
I recently participated in a panel on media and politics keying off the play, Frost/Nixon, which will be opening at the Paramount Theatre May 6 with Stacy Keach in the Tricky Dick role. The panel took place at the downtown library's Microsoft Auditorium and before it started excerpts from [...]
As Ron Sims heads east, King County is looking for a new leader. Sims has somewhat redefined the position with his hyperactive drive. No longer is the executive office a place for tweedy pipe smokers, guys with a kind of suburban dad appeal (John Spellman, Tim Hill). Rather, it's' [...]
The Seattle mayoral race is slow to shape up with good candidates skipping it and others jumping in who are largely unknown or inexperienced. One interesting twist: possibly the best candidate to challenge Dear Leader Greg Nickels for the job is currently mayor of another city.
Some noses wrinkled with offense [...]
Seattle magazine (where I write a column) has a short profile and interview with Burke Kenny, a 24-year old Olympia native who is World Beard Champion (crowned in 2007). Take a look at his picture and the accompanying interview: He clearly qualifies as a champion mossback as well. I [...]
I've been following up on some information about the religious, or rather non-religious, make-up of British Columbia, a topic that came up at a recent conference on spirituality in Cascadia at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma. One thing stuck out that is fascinating, and that is the prevalence of' [...]
Here in Pugetopolis it's still a matter of faith that growth is unstoppable and the urbanization is the answer to all our prayers. I've written that growth is often the result of national policies (land grants, homesteading, land reclamation, tax incentives, bank deregulation) and as such, it can be' [...]
The bulldozers have always been busy in Southern California. The good news is that it has resulted in modern architecture worth saving, from Googie diners to mid-century modern gems. One of these is the Century Plaza Hotel, the centerpiece of Century City which was built in the mid-1960s to help [...]
The Pacific Northwest is known as the "None Zone" for its high percentage of people who say they aren't affiliated with any religious group: nearly two-thirds. Twenty-five percent of people in Washington, Oregon and Alaska say they have no religion at all. The numbers are even higher in British Columbia.' [...]
With all the rage at Wall Street and AIG pirates (not to mention Somali ones), it's natural that people would be expecting that these times are fertile grounds for the revival of populism. The press looked for populism's comeback during the 2008 campaign, but it failed to materialize in [...]
"No more waiting for Peter Godot," says Peter Steinbrueck. The former city councilmember has made up his mind about the mayor's race. He's not running "this time around."
Instead, Steinbreuck will be heading to Harvard for the 2009-10 academic year (September-May) as a Loeb Fellow, a prestigious international fellowship program [...]
This week we've heard much about Somali pirates and how to handle them, first with talk, then with force if necessary. Such problems were once closer to home. By coincidence, I happened to be reading Barry Gough's Gunboat Frontier, a look at the use of British naval power against Northwest' [...]
A few weeks ago I was rushing on foot through Winslow to catch the Seattle ferry. The late afternoon weather had turned ugly, a kind of semi-frozen slurry was coming down, both drenching and freezing at once.
Coming the other way was a scurrying figure, swaddled in rain gear and [...]
Vets of the recently folded print edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer will be launching their new venture on Tuesday, April 14, according to reporter Kathy Mulady. Mulady relayed the news while attending the Seattle Neighborhood Coalition monthly meeting in Ballad on Saturday, April 11. The launch of Seattlepostglobe.org is timed [...]
It was April Fool's Day and the Seattle Landmarks and Preservation Board couldn't make up its mind whether the nomination of the George W. Carmack House was a joke or not.
George Carmack was the man credited with starting the Klondike stampede by filing the first gold claim. The ensuing' [...]
Supporters of an United States pavilion at the upcoming Shanghai world's fair in 2010 have been looking to the Obama administration for some help to boost the effort. Eyes have turned to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and newly anointed Commerce Secretary, former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, as possible [...]
The Oregonian's Katy Muldoon reports that the Brits are miffed at American briefing papers describing the United Kingdom as "slightly smaller than Oregon." Which, of course, is true land-wise. The CIA's researchers, Muldoon says, frequently compare foreign counties to the size of states to give Americans a quick sense [...]
Too bad Starbucks is in withdrawal mode because here's something out of which they could brew some positive publicity. The Washington Board of Geographic names will be meeting in May to give an initial hearing to a number of place name proposals (including the Salish Sea). Also on the [...]
We're willing to tax plastic bags to save the planet, but are we willing to give up our pets? There's increasing evidence that our love of cats and dogs is having an adverse impact on the earth. Sure, pet owners experience joy and even the release of endorphins when' [...]
Back in January I speculated about the future of the Seattle P-I's famous Globe. Some at the paper (like Joel Connelly) were irritated that I was speculating before the paper's heart had stopped beating. But another reporter at the paper asked me if it was true that the Museum [...]
On May 15, the Washington State Board of Geographic Names will take up initial consideration of the proposal to designate the Northwest's inland waters from Puget Sound in Washington to Desolation Sound in British Columbia as the Salish Sea. While the proposal won't change any existing names (Puget Sound' [...]
Former Washington governor Gary Locke is the newly minted Secretary of Commerce and his in-basket is already overflowing. One problem some observers hope winds up on his to-do list: save the U.S. from the looming international embarrassment of dropping out of history's largest-ever world's fair, Expo 2010 in Shanghai, [...]
One of the year's most anticipated preservation projects has been the National Trust for Historic Preservation's Green Lab, an office based here in Seattle that will by a catalyst for promoting historic and neighborhood preservation policies as part of a drive to link preservation with sustainability and green rehabilitation [...]
Some of us remember civic leaders of the 1960s who helped make Seattle what it is: Victor Steinbrueck who saved the Pike Place Market, for example. Another figure well known to old-timers and foodies, but lesser known to younger generations, is the late Angelo Pellegrini, the author and University of [...]
On KUOW's "Weekday," last Friday, we discussed the mayor's snow problem (my fellow panelists were Joel Connelly of Seattlepi.com and Bruce Ramsey of the Seattle Times. People are stirred up over the Times' story that was the result of looking over thousands of public documents related to the storm' [...]
No one likes to see the underdog get beaten, but the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, long the David against the Seattle Times newspaper Goliath, just got clobbered. The Blethens are the last men standing in this long-time grudge match, but they're staggering too.
Seattle likes to regard itself as an exceptional place,' [...]
Everyone is pretty much up in arms for AIG execs getting $165 million in bonuses after a $170 billion public bailout. The money is ostensibly to retain talent at the troubled company, but isn't this some of the same talent that put the insurance giant in a multi-trillion-dollar hole?' [...]
Some time soon — around the time the Seattle Post- Intelligencer print edition is due to be euthanized by its parent Hearst Corporation — major league soccer will debut in Seattle, playing in Qwest Field in colors much like the throwback uniforms of the Seahawks. I suppose for those of [...]
A new Gallup study suggests that people in the Western United States have a much greater sense of well-being than other Americans. States that topped the feel-good list included Utah, Hawaii, and Wyoming, and strong results were also reported for Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Alaska, and California, among others. Well-being [...]
When Peter Steinbrueck had his Seattle City Council going-away party in late 2007, he compared his council career to a water slide at Wild Waves, and his mid-life career change — he chose not to run for re-election — to a dream he had about floating peacefully on a [...]
One thing that has bothered me about Seattle of the last 25 years has been the rise, along with Microsoft millionaires, of conspicuous consumption. Seattle went from being a town where the rich wore paint-spattered polo shirts and drove old Volvos to a town where McMansions started crowding out bungalows. [...]
What do writers do all day?
I can answer that.
Recently, I spent part of an afternoon Googling "blue monkey scrotum."
Why? Because that's where the "man-bites-dog" animal story of the week was. Or rather, the "blue-monkey-scrotum-bites-reporter" story. And it has a local angle too.
You might have read that a TV news reporter [...]
As I've been giving readings and interviews around Puget Sound the last two months, a topic that frequently comes up is the subject of Seattle's "nice-ness," or lack of it. The subtitle of my book Pugetopolis promises, among other things, to tackle "The Myth of Seattle Nice," so you [...]
I'm under no illusions: I knew that as inspirational as Obama was as a candidate, he'd likely disappoint as president. Dealing with reality and the politics of the possible does that. The struggle with the economy is one of those areas: he's having to embrace a deeply flawed system by [...]
In recent years, Seattle has grown at a fast clip. The city's population is pushing 600,000. It's not due to the birthrate — in fact, the Pacific Northwest has one of the lowest in the country and Seattle one of the highest percentages of childless households of any major [...]
George Washington Carmack is credited with starting the Klondike Gold Rush. He filed the first claim on Bonanza Creek, a tributary of the Yukon's Klondike River. News of the find set into motion a series of events that helped to transform the Pacific Northwest, from Seattle to the Arctic. Some [...]
