Eric
Orcas Island resident Michael Riordan has a thoughtful post mortem of the Gateway Pacific coal terminal’s rejection.
Remember how the oil train industry kept insisting that it had every intention of retrofitting it’s rickety old rail cars? It seems like the urgency isn’t what it might be:
…according to information recently provided to DeSmog Blog by the Association of American Railroads, only 225 of the tank cars have been retrofitted in the past year. So, the API may have been onto something because at that rate it will take roughly 500 years to retrofit the entire fleet [of the most unsafe tank cars].
Kristin
Maybe we should do away with elections altogether and select representatives through demographically-representative lottery.
What if the city mice and the country mice could stop duking it out in state capitols across the country and instead run their own local or regional governments? In the US, we could do that by splitting states up to create regional governments that correspond to actual demographics (unlike state lines). Michael Lind explains that most policies and infrastructure are local, regional or national, so state-level government adds an unnecessary and inefficient layer of bureaucracy. And he suggests a 75 state map.
Obama’s parting message: “We’ve got to build a better politics—one that’s less of a spectacle and more of a battle of ideas.” Otherwise, “extreme voices fill the void.” True, that.
Serena
This pretty much sums up the bathroom debate.
What does co-living look like—and cost—in some of the US’s most in-demand cities? It may be a glimpse into a more co-lived future, as this New Yorker profile details (for the record, Sightline was wayyyy ahead of this trend).
Where does your e-waste really go? Seattle-based Basel Action Network used GPS devices to find out.
Keiko
On June 4th, a handful of excellent Seattle media outlets are combining forces and hosting a day of workshops that aim to diversify local media and make press and journalism skills accessible to the greater Seattle community.
Hey Portland! What kind of place do you want your city to become? Learn more about Portland’s growth plan and meet other community members who are interested in land use and affordable housing at this upcoming community seminar. Get engaged and join the discussion.
