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To entice all you sustainability minded folks—particularly in Oregon, BC, Idaho, and Eastern Washington—to sign up for our Sightline Daily news service, we’ve been offering a free trip to Seattle. What’s so great about Seattle?  Well, lots—and if you’re like me, and think of trips as opportunities to learn something new, there’s plenty to learn about sustainability in the Emerald City. So here are 5 sustainable wonders in Seattle—things that...

It caught my attention when I heard State Treasurer Jim McIntire saying he won’t be supporting I-1033 because he is concerned that if it passes, it could hurt Washington State’s bond rating, increasing costs for the state to borrow money. My dad has an annoying saying about borrowing and debt: “Neither a borrower or a lender be.” The quote is from Shakespeare’s Hamlet and is given as sage advice by...

British Columbians have one more thing to be thankful for this holiday. September employment figures for British Columbia are in and the news is good.  BC employment increased in September by 31,000 jobs with the unemployment rate dropping 0.3 percent to 8.4 percent. This is the first monthly decline in unemployment since the collapse of the global economy last fall. Manufacturing businesses hired 5,900 people and the construction industry, especially...

After Julie Price lost her job as a receptionist for an event planning company, the Ballard library became her personal office and lifeline to the working world. With no computer at home, she uses her precious 90 minutes at the public terminals each day to search help-wanted ads, check email and print resumes. Soon, she may be joined by a friend who just got laid off from the food bank....

First-grade teacher Linda Erickson is a devout believer in the power of summer school. After 14 years in the classroom, she knows that for struggling students, the extra lessons help them keep hold of newly gained reading skills. Summer school provides them with breakfast and lunch—possibly their only solid meals of the day. And the routine of school can anchor young lives unhinged by parents absent because of work demands,...

One response to Sarah Mirk’s history of dead freeways article in the Portland Mercury included a link to a video created by Streetfilms, documenting the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) in New York. That freeway was the child of planning legend Robert Moses. Streetfilms uses Portland as an example of what might have happened if the BQE had never been built. But, as I pointed out in my post about Mirk’s...

I remember the first time I drove into Vancouver in the late 1980s. Interstate 5 melted away into Highway 99 and eventually, I crossed over the Oak Street Bridge into a four lane city street with no turn lanes. How odd that the freeway didn’t just plow through the city with convenient exits at strategic points. What were they thinking? Instead, it was a game of trying to pick the...

Recent polling found that 63 percent of respondents said they supported the American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES—a.k.a. Waxman-Markey). The poll, which was commissioned by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, was conducted in Alaska, Arkansas, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Nevada, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia—all considered swing states in the climate and clean energy debate. The poll,...

Size is one of those things that can be measured but is still very subjective. A child might think their teacher is tall, even though he’s only 5 feet 6 inches, while Manute Bol might think someone who stands 6’6: is short. The size of back yard cottages or laneway housing can determine their acceptance or rejection in single family neighborhoods—but, again, size is in the eye of the beholder....

Some new-ish Census figures on commuting habits in 2008 suggest that Washington may be the Northwest’s leader in alternatives to driving. Or possibly Alaska, depending on how you count. Driving alone is still the dominant mode of commuting, but all five Northwest states have less solo driving than the national average. When it comes to carpooling, the region’s leader is Idaho. But again, all five Northwest states have more carpooling...