To the City Hall insiders worried that finance guru Dwight Dively might not find a spot in the new Mayor Mike McGinn administration, relax: Dively not only is staying on as director of finance, but he'll oversee a revamped and consolidated area of city government including the former departments' [...]
Danny Westneat got some grief for his Seattle Times column yesterday about the empty beds in some of the city’s shelters the past few nights. All shelters were full during last year’s spells of bitter cold, leading him to wonder whether this year the number of homeless people in [...]
Elliott Bay Book Company, the Pioneer Square icon, will be moving to Capitol Hill this spring, according to store owner Peter Aaron. The bookstore, which has been in trouble and losing money the last two years, revealed earlier this fall that it might have to close unless it could [...]
Meeghan Black was today named permanent host of KING TV’s Evening Magazine. Black, a weather and traffic anchor at the station since 2000, replaces John Curley, who left the show in April after his contract was not renewed. Curley was recently elected to the Sammamish City Council.
KING’s [...]
Elliott Bay Book Company, the Pioneer Square icon, will be moving to Capitol Hill this spring, according to store owner Peter Aaron. The bookstore, which has been in trouble and losing money the last two years, revealed earlier this fall that it might have to close unless it could [...]
William Gates Sr., the longtime University of Washington regent, said at a meeting of Crosscut writers Tuesday afternoon that he was not consulted about the recent appointment of UW Provost Phyllis Wise to Nike's corporate board.
At the same time, Gates said that he saw a benefit to the [...]
Hungry, thirsty people, lining up like it was a Black Friday shopping spree, queued up this afternoon for 25-cent beers and breakfasts.
Here's a brief writeup from seattlepi.com.
[...]It’s been 29 years today since John Lennon was murdered in New York City. The ex-Beatle’s death came near the apogee of local FM rock radio, when a handful of on-air personalities at a few stations in each major city held sway over a huge percentage of listeners.
In Seattle, [...]
That query was answered in some very different personal ways during a panel discussion last week called “From Pioneers to Mayors: Blacks in the West.” The program was hosted by the Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas, at the Northwest African American Museum in the historic Colman [...]
Less than a year after folding the print version of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and all but abandoning the competition for the local newspaper market, Hearst now is now planning to re-enter the fray. In an email to Crosscut today, Hearst spokesman Paul Luthringer said the New York-based media conglomerate will include its [...]
In the aftermath of a major football event (or even a relatively minor one such as, say, the Washington Huskies versus the California Golden Bears, memories of on-field accomplishment can fade just as a fun-with-numbers game takes over, to wit:
42-10: That’s the final score after UW demonstrated command on both [...]Whenever I read big news in the TV industry, I think back to the wild predictions made by my father in the 1960s.
He'd gone from radio ("The Night Owl Show") to local TV ("From the Esso Desk...") to management of local TV (a station wagon emblazoned with the NBC peacock)' [...]
Grace Crunican, the effective but controversial head of Seattle's Department of Transportation, is a finalist for becoming county administrator of Clackamas County in the Portland area. Sources expect her to get the job, returning to the state whence she was plucked by Mayor Nickels for the Seattle hot seat.' [...]
The Port of Bellingham is on solid ground in claiming that Newport, Ore., isn’t.
That’s the essence of a ruling announced today in Washington, D.C. The Government Accountability Office ruled in favor of Bellingham’s protest of the process that picked Newport as the new site for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric [...]
The following press release is presented, in full, and without comment:
SEATTLE – Mayor-elect Mike McGinn announced Monday night three members of his new administration. Darryl Smith will serve as the Deputy Mayor for Communities. Smith has a long record of community involvement. He serves currently as president of Great City and [...]
In spite of numerous prepared-in-advance reminiscences, special web features and even a KCTS documentary, the 10th anniversary of the WTO “Battle in Seattle” with its clashes between police, demonstrators, and rioters has justifiably taken a backseat to the violence over the weekend in Lakewood and the continued [...]
Gun violence is a hallmark of the American West. It's as if bloodletting by firearm is hard-wired, as natural as breathing.
Sunday's execution-style murders of four Lakewood police officers at the Forza coffee shop in unincorporated Pierce County echoed the horror of the Oct. 31 slaying of Seattle police officer [...]
Waiting in the Porta Potty line Saturday afternoon in the gathering area known as The Zone just east of Husky Stadium there was plenty to ponder, such as:
Why just four Sani-Cans for 4,000 people?
More to the point: How come the two guys in front of me, one sporting U-Dub [...]
The headline on the Seattle Times website last week was startling: "Kennewick Man Charged with Murder." Had an archaeological enigma risen from the grave to commit mayhem? The paper soon revised the head.
But here's another story of actual interest on the subject of old bones. Turns out in Los Angeles, [...]
Ed Stimpson, a longtime leader in the civil-aviation industry, died this past Wednesday in Boise. His obituary, distributed via Associated Press from Boise and picked up by other media, was maddeningly unsatisfying. It listed his achievements as a U.S. ambassador, head of national civil-aviation bodies, and leader of a [...]
The headline on the Seattle Times website last week was startling: "Kennewick Man Charged with Murder." Had an archaeological enigma risen from the grave to commit mayhem? The paper soon revised the head.
But here's another story of actual interest on the subject of old bones. Turns out in Los Angeles, [...]
Last Sunday I stumbled on a review in the New York Times Book Review of a new book about the First World War called The Remains of Company D by James Carl Nelson. Reviewer Elizabeth D. Samet, an English professor at West Point and the author of [...]
It’s been exactly 10 years since the World Trade Organization (WTO) Ministerial put Seattle in the spotlight, or make that headlights, and KCTS has put together a half-hour look back that will premiere at 8 p.m. Monday on Channel 9.
The Whole World Was Watching, written and produced by public [...]
The end may be near for the storied old Memorial Stadium on the Seattle Center campus. Plans are to tear the old place down, replacing it with underground parking and an open-space lid on top. Every mayor since the Fair closed in 1962 has tried to pry the old [...]
Editor's note: Monte Enbysk, an experienced (but not elite) runner, was thrown off his Seattle Marathon training schedule by an injury last month. He's chronicling his comeback effort and — if he makes it — his race day for Crosscut. His previous installments are available here.
Republican Congressman Doc Hastings, Washington’s invisible man during this year’s health reform battle, announced in a news release that he would talk about the House-passed health care and climate-change bills during a factory visit in Yakima County on Monday. But the eight-term Pasco representative, whose 4th District of Eastern [...]
As much as I enjoyed our son living on the East Coast for the past decade, it’s nice having him back out West — especially during the holidays. Sure, I loved spending Christmas in New York City last year, but flying over the rivers and through the woods is not [...]
The marquee at the Paramount Theatre Saturday read Them Crooked Vultures, but really all you need to know is that John Paul Jones was there. The band is the latest musical beast in the sub-genre of rock known as the supergroup, and it features vocalist and guitarist Josh Homme, [...]
Can this BiOp be saved? That's the underlying question this morning when the usual suspects appear in federal court to argue for what may (but probably won't) be the last time over the government's biological opinion on operation of its Columbia River dam system.
Over the last two weeks, U.S.' [...]
The two main ways “execute” is defined: “to accomplish a plan” and “to put to death.”
Lately the Seattle Seahawks offense executes in the latter fashion: Play is called; play walks down the gridiron equivalent of death row; play dies.
Were it a Sean Penn movie, the Seattle offense would be [...]
On Monday the Seattle City Council will take final votes on a 2010 budget. The proposed budget, despite these financially lean times, actually has a lot to like. (I chair the council's budget committee, so I'm somewhat partial to the results.)
As proposed, the council budget restores hours to the' [...]
On Monday the Seattle City Council will take final votes on a 2010 budget. The proposed budget, despite these financially lean times, actually has a lot to like. (I chair the council's budget committee, so I'm somewhat partial to the results.)
As proposed, the council budget restores hours to the' [...]
On Wednesday the Metropolitan Democratic Club hosted a lunchtime panel that discussed bills now being considered by the Washington Legislature to decriminalize marijuana possession. House Bill 1177 and Senate Bill 5615 would reclassify possession of small amounts of marijuana from misdemeanor status to infractions more like driving [...]
Crosscut held its first Members-only party Thursday night, using the event as a housewarming for our new offices in Belltown and a way to thank lots of new Charter Members. Nice crowd, nice vibes. Thanks to our Marilyn Hoe for all the party prep, to Hale's Ales for the brews,' [...]
Editor's note: Monte Enbysk, an experienced (but not elite) runner, was thrown off his Seattle Marathon training schedule by an injury last month. He's chronicling his comeback effort and — if he makes it — his race day for Crosscut. His previous installments are available here.
As I finish my [...]
The tale of Seattle’s founding in the 1850s has not had much in the way of new scholarship lately. Like a Colorforms playset, the mostly two-dimensional characters have acted out a Thanksgiving pageant of sorts for much of living memory — pioneers, Indians, trappers, missionaries (along with Henry Yesler and [...]
Another familiar voice has been stricken from the local airwaves, as KVI AM 570 let go morning talk show host Kirby Wilbur last week. Fisher Communications, owners of KVI (and KOMO AM-FM-TV, KPLZ, and other local stations), posted a statement on the KVI website acknowledging Wilbur’s 16 years [...]
The cost of democracy in America is mind-boggling. As of Nov. 1, without even considering federal, state, and county elections, Seattle alone has campaigns that will spend over $5.3 million. Think about what that kind of money would do for some of our more egregious social, environmental, or infrastructure problems. [...]
The Seattle Seahawks finally got a little better, just in time to play their way out of post-season contention. A club that last week couldn’t run well enough to catch a parked bus lost its nominal featured back early during the Sunday defeat against division-leading Arizona then put up better [...]
It's best to avoid getting drawn into stories about political intrigue and rivalries and to focus on bottom-line policy results in judging presidencies and presidential candidacies. But two events over the past week in the Obama White House were symptoms of internal strain. They both involved the exits of highly professional and [...]
Life on an island can get lonely.
I thought I was prepared for that, but shortly after we moved in there came a day when my husband went to work and my daughter left for school and I felt like I’d slipped into an Ingmar Bergman film: Everything was pale sun [...]
Editor's note: Monte Enbysk, an experienced (but not elite) runner, was thrown off his Seattle Marathon training schedule by an injury last month. He's chronicling his comeback effort and — if he makes it — his race day for Crosscut. His previous installments appeared here and here.
I’m hungry [...]
We now are at the early stages of the so-called Hot Stove League season when speculation about baseball trades and signings dominates the attention of diehard baseball fans. ("Hot Stove" derives from the early 20th century time when fans gathered in the off-season around hot stoves to exchange baseball lore and gossip).
Most local attention [...]
The U.S. Board of Geographic Names approved the name Salish Sea today in a unanimous vote. The name is now officially accepted nationally, as well as in Washington State. It has been approved in British Columbia by the province's names board, and Canadian national approval is expected. The vote was [...]
What a deep-sea downer to learn this morning that the Ivar’s underwater billboards were a hoax! I should have known better, but I have a history of falling for tall tales — Paul Bunyan, UFOs, Colin Powell at the U.N., to name just a few examples.
And I have a [...]
It’s rare that I engage in hero worship. But for Sandra Day O’Connor, there is no amount of esteem that is too great.
She was, of course, the first woman to serve on the United States Supreme Court. But I’m not so easily swayed. This impressed me; it did not inspire [...]
As the state’s unemployment rate climbs ever higher, the people in charge of mailing checks to the jobless are trying to get the word out: Let us help you find work.
A new study by the state Employment Security Department concludes that people who used the services of WorkSource, [...]
Here in Seattle Veterans Day coincides with the height of the rainy season, which seems fitting given the wretched weather that the soldiers endured in France in the weeks leading up to the 1918 Armistice that Veterans Day commemorates.
“During the night, a cold penetrating rain began,” one soldier wrote of [...]
Somehow my father, an urban planning professor, once obtained the copy of the the 1911 Bogue Plan of Seattle owned by J.W. Maxwell, who served on the Municipal Plans Commission that commissioned Bogue's work. For many years, I have used the plan as a coffee table provocateur. But in [...]
Somehow my father, an urban planning professor, once obtained the copy of the the 1911 Bogue Plan of Seattle owned by J.W. Maxwell, who served on the Municipal Plans Commission that commissioned Bogue's work. For many years, I have used the plan as a coffee table provocateur. But in [...]
It’s been 20 years since the Evergreen State celebrated its centennial, and Washington State History Museum Director David Nicandri was responsible for much of the festivities that took place back in 1989. Exactly 20 years later, on Wednesday, Nicandri kicks off a long farewell of sorts, by curating a [...]
In a small blue collar cafe I overheard a table of people talking about what qualities a good Seattle City Council member might possess. Top of the list was: Would they have good sense? Chortling followed, interspersed with bursts of laughter, as they suggested various life experiences they mused would [...]
“GO FOR TWO!”
Such was the stentorian roar late Saturday afternoon from the front seats at the Duchess Tavern, possibly the second-best place in the world to watch Husky football.
The University of Washington had just nudged up the point count 22-14 against UCLA at the Rose Bowl. An [...]
Some expected this election to express the voter's desire for sweeping change, but in Washington, that wasn't the case. Voters in Seattle cast their votes for change in the dog days of August when they ousted two-term incumbent mayor Greg Nickels in the primary, but by fall, the electorate was' [...]
For the second time in slightly more than a week, local TV and radio stations devoted a fair portion of their early afternoon schedules to live, commercial-free coverage of a local event. Unlike Boeing’s announcement on October 28 that the company had selected South Carolina for the second 787 line, [...]
On the fourth day of extremely close results in the Seattle mayoral race, Mike McGinn widened his lead over opponent Joe Mallahan. In an updated count released Friday afternoon, McGinn had 49.99 percent of the vote, to Mallahan's 49.19 percent. That amounts to a lead of just 1,209 votes [...]
It was fitting that Whidbey Island's New Media 2012 conference was scheduled the same day in September as the annual Langley Soup Box Derby. You see, the Langley Soup Box Derby is from another millennium. It was created in 1972 by supporters of the Soup Coop, a hippie hangout [...]
Seattle’s venerable Museum of History & Industry celebrates the city’s past, and the museum’s future, tonight at the old Naval Reserve Armory at Lake Union Park. MOHAI has relocated the annual History Makers dinner to the Armory (from the gala’s previous locations at the Olympic Hotel and the Rainier [...]
New York City is littered with places like Ground Zero where the aspirations for grand architecture have left dead zones. Meanwhile, thanks to an enlightened director of Design and Construction, David Burney, a British architect, all kinds of great little buildings (firehouses, libraries, community centers) have sneaked into the Big [...]
Ralph Waldo Emerson asked, “How much of human life is lost in waiting?” Think of the mayoral candidates.
[...]Now that there is nothing more to be done, no more ballots to be taxied to Sea-Tac, no more signs to staple-gun on the walls, no more calls to feisty undecideds to be made by fleets of unsung volunteers, we who have signed on to volunteer for one of the [...]
Joining a long line of local media celebrities who have sought elected office (and unlike former KIRO anchor Susan Hutchison), former KING host John Curley appears headed to victory in his bid for a seat on the Sammamish City Council.
“For the record, only 22 percent of the vote has [...]
Is is something in the water?
R-71, the gay partner benefits referendum, looks to be passing statewide (51 percent yes, 49 percent no), driven by the "yes" vote in 10 of Washington's 39 counties, all of them bordering the Salish Sea. In fact, only two counties on Puget Sound did [...]
Here's a quick summary, based on the votes counted by Tuesday night. In Seattle, the mayor's race is very tight, with Mike McGinn ahead of Joe Mallahan, 50-49. Some of the big margins were: Sally Bagshaw, 69-31 over City Council opponent David Bloom; Mike O'Brien 58-42 over Robert Rosencrantz (surprisingly' [...]
Some kids have two mommies, but Cascadia has two Vancouvers, which causes confusion. Vancouver, BC is known world-wide, and Vancouver, WA is mostly known as a growing suburb of Portland, Ore. Some residents of Vancouver, WA are interested in re-branding their city, distinguishing it from their better-known neighbor to the [...]
In October of 1991, I was living on the Iron Range of Minnesota with my first husband and our two sons.
It was a tough place, a harbor town filled with silent taconite mines and for-sale signs. Unemployment was 12 percent. My husband worked as a printer during the day; he [...]
Once while I was phone-banking, a woman I’d called interrupted my briefing on a political issue involving human services with a question. “Do you know what ‘Thy kingdom come’ means?” she asked. “Um, I think so,” I replied. “Well,” she said, “that’s why I don’t bother voting. I only have [...]
Doug Todd at the Vancouver Sun has a fascinating column that gets at a little explored aspect of Northwest values: how an environmentalist could also be a "neo-Nazi."
Occasionally down in Washington, right-wingers (like the minions of the Building Industry Association of Washington) accuse greens of being eco-Nazis, typical [...]
For nearly a year, weary, beleaguered Seattle Seahawks fans have been hearing how their legions wouldn’t finish 4-12 the way they did in 2008, when the Hawks lost control of the reliably winnable National Football League division they’d dominated for much of the past decade.
Partisans didn’t realize that, while the [...]
Halloween falls on a Saturday this year, and that's scary. Really, what's spookier — along with all that undistributed candy hanging around the house — than the prospect of sexed-up, partying-down grown-ups with a whole day to plan their festivities and a whole day to recover before Monday morning calls?
It [...]
Washington state mapmakers will have to juggle space when they update Northwest maps and charts. The State Board of Geographic Names has voted to designate the inland salt waters of Cascadia, roughly from Campbell River and Desolation Sound in British Columbia to the southern coves of Puget Sound as the [...]
Below is this week's "Marketplace Minute," from American Public Media radio host Bill Radke.
[...]Watching Michael Jackson’s This Is It was a bittersweet experience. On one hand the film gives a glimpse into what surely would have been one of the biggest concert spectacles in music history and it is one of the best concert films I have seen. On the other I found [...]
Film enthusiasts will remember the classic World War II films entitled Why We Fight, giving both our military forces and civilians reasons to defend home and hearth against Nazi and Japanese aggression.
A present day local version, providing reasons to make a fresh start in 2010 with a new mayor [...]
As the news broke of Boeing picking South Carolina over Washington for the location of the second 787 line Wednesday afternoon, Seattle media outlets rushed to get on the air with the story.
On the TV side, KING (simulcast on Northwest Cable News) took the offensive just after 2 p.m. with [...]
“Seattle Times daily circulation up sharply” was the headline on the Times’ upbeat story after the latest six-month circulation figures were posted this week by an industry monitor, the Audit Bureau of Circulations (ABC). And so it seemed, with the average paid daily circulation of the Times standing at [...]
Gov. Gregoire just finished an artful press conference, disclaiming any responsibility for Boeing's decision to build a second 787 production line in North Charleston, S.C., noting again that Boeing had told her there was nothing the state could do about the decision. The governor then tried to shift the public's' [...]
While media were focusing on the impasse in Boeing-Machinists talks and on South Carolina's enticements to move major operations to that state, other Boeing-related developments were taking place with less attention.
In Washington, D.C., Boeing and Northrup Grumman intensified their jousting over the award of the contract for aerial refueling tankers. [...]
The Audit Bureau of Circulations this week announced figures for the six-month period ending Sept. 30, and the year-over-year drop in average weekday print circulation among 379 U.S. daily newspapers was 10.6 percent. That's not strictly due to people simply walking away from print. Over that year, [...]
Seattle is in a funk. Businesses are struggling. Unemployment is high. The city budget needs a trim. An urban center long admired because it worked so well has become a place that can't deliver basic services. Fortunately Seattle’s two mayoral candidates, Whatshisname and The Other Guy, offer fresh ideas, bold' [...]
The Washington Department of Transportation has posted a scary "what-if" video of what would happen to the Seattle waterfront in the event of a quake that was just a little closer and longer than the 2001 Nisqually quake. You get to see how things are predicted to come apart: [...]
Bygone, sagely Seahawks leader Chuck Knox once tested local football scribes about the key statistic in football. Some of his accidental pupils waxed wisely about punt hang times and fourth-down, go-for-it decisions, after which Knox, pausing for Olivier-like dramatic timing, stated with exquisite simplicity:
“The key statistic in football is points [...]
Bill Radke, the popular former KUOW voice who now hosts American Public Media's Marketplace Morning Report, is building a following among social-media fans as well as regular listeners for his new feature, a weekly summary of business news delivered as a 60-second poem.
Radke brings his trademark charm and wit [...]
Bill Radke, the popular former KUOW voice who now hosts American Public Media's Marketplace Morning Report, is building a following among social-media fans as well as regular listeners for his new feature, a weekly summary of business news delivered as a 60-second poem.
Radke brings his trademark charm and wit [...]
Sure, with Boeing trying to build jets here (and not, for the next few weeks anyway, in South Carolina), Seattle people pay extra attention to aviation and all things aeronautical. But now there’s something in the air everywhere all of a sudden. Literally.
Last week, it was a 6-year old [...]
The Hold Steady mixes well with alcohol — after all they have been labeled “America’s bar band” by critics and fans — so pairing the Brooklyn quintet with Southern Comfort for a free concert at The Crocodile Thursday night was a no-brainer.
The Kentucky-based booze sponsored the invite-only event that was [...]
It’s a time of extremes for Seattle’s famous literary scene. From the “It was a dark and stormy night” shelf, literary sleuths have been looking for clues all week as to whether Elliott Bay Book Company is really pulling up stakes from its longtime Pioneer Square location or just [...]
In our day a candidate can speak sincerely, yet one ad can argue breach of trust or "flip-flop" and call for the guillotine to fall. What if negative ads had controlled the actual guillotines, events in Tolkien's world or the views of classic philosophers? We may not have liked such [...]
The recent death of the distinguished American choreographer Merce Cunningham raised anew the question of preserving dance works. What happens to the material created by a choreographer who dies, particularly one whose own company was the vehicle for the work?
In Cunningham’s case there was a plan devised, with his [...]
Editor's note: Part 1 of "Island Girl" ran in the Crosscut Blog on Monday.
For 21 hours, my husband was held in the county jail in a town 39 miles and several land masses away. He was not permitted to call his new employer and explain why he hadn’t showed [...]
Some Seattle voters seem proud to announce to you that they've already voted, like smug students who turned in their homework assignment early for extra credit. In an election like this, I don't see why an early vote has any upside: There's a long way to go before election day' [...]
In April, Danny Westneat wrote a compelling column in The Seattle Times about the "victory" of a decision on the viaduct replacement. He suggested such decisions are often predicated on incomplete information about cost overruns. He cited a notable British study on the psychology of public works projects. He concluded with remarkable [...]
Nick Holt is so animated along the Washington sidelines that some may wonder if during a prior incarnation the Husky football defensive coordinator was a Warner Bros. cartoon character.
In fact, Holt's only known show-biz connection seems to be that his granddad was athlete-actor Buster Crabbe, appropriate if only because Holt' [...]
Here was my introduction to Washington.
I drove from Minneapolis: North Dakota, Montana, Idaho. Five days on the road with two incredibly bored teenagers. (No, the Rocky Mountains are not spectacular, Mom.) Our puttery little car was barely capable of pulling the U-Haul trailer. Once, on a steep incline, we almost [...]
File this story under belaboring the obvious: "Drinking Your Way to Health? Perhaps Not." Is it really news that consuming booze isn't the way to fitness and health? I always thought of winos as the paragons of physical specimens, akin to Greek Gods.
Maybe there are a few idiots' [...]
Feliks Banel, David Brewster, Bob Simmons, Ann Bauer, Mike Henderson, Sue Frause, Jean Godden, Ted Van Dyk, Monte Enbysk, Knute Berger, Mark Matassa, Johnathon Fitzpatrick, Kimberly Marlowe Hartnett, David Laskin, Travis Hay, Harris Meyer, Daniel Jack Chasan, Kent Kammerer, Michele Matassa Flores, Judy Lightfoot, Chuck Wolfe, Pete Jackson, Bill Richards
