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Of Cascadia’s Big Cities, Who’s Tops in Bikeways?
It only takes a few minutes talking to transport honchos in Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, BC, to get a sense of the intense, if friendly, competition among their cities to be king of the cycling hill. But in many ways the three largest urban centers of Cascadia form one big, soggy petri dish of experimentation in bike infrastructure. All three are North American leaders in prioritizing complete streets and bicycle...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 4/7/17
Alan Dave Roberts’ long article about the rise of what he calls “tribal epistemology” is my lead pick for what you should read. In tribal epistemology, Information is evaluated based not on conformity to common standards of evidence or correspondence to a common understanding of the world, but on whether it supports the tribe’s values and goals and is vouchsafed by tribal leaders. “Good for our side” and “true” begin...Read more » -
Checking Seattle’s MHA Math
Since the release of Seattle’s Housing Affordability and Livability (HALA) plan in July 2015, city policymakers have been plugging away at defining its most ambitious policy, a type of inclusionary zoning called “Mandatory Housing Affordability” (MHA). MHA couples zoning changes that allow larger buildings—“upzones”—with mandates on developers to provide affordable homes or pay into the city’s affordable housing fund. With MHA, Seattle has an opportunity to become a model for...Read more » -
Inclusionary Zoning: The Most Promising—or Counter-productive—of All Housing Policies
Imagine two towns, both committed to helping their low-income residents but short on funding for social services. Both decide to require retailers to sell 5 or 10 percent of their wares at steeply discounted prices to families who qualify for benefits: milk, jeans, refrigerators, whatever. But they do it two different ways. The first town flat-out forces stores to do it, giving them nothing back in exchange. The place gets...Read more » -
The Portland Plan: Down with McMansions, Up with Abundant Housing Options
Editor’s note: This article combines and adapts three articles by the Portland for Everyone coalition’s Michael Andersen. See the originals on this blog, and learn more about the group here. Portland’s approach shares similarities with the Seattle Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda recommendation to allow small duplexes and triplexes in single-family zones without letting property owners erect buildings larger than currently zoned. Growing cities across the US and Canada are...Read more » -
No, Seattle Does Not Already Have “Plenty” of Land Zoned for New Housing
[Residents] might also ask why the city insists on ever-taller buildings and doubling or tripling density in single-family zones with accessory dwelling units, even though planners say current zoning has plenty of capacity. So declared the Seattle Times editorial board, parroting one of the most persistent and ubiquitous arguments made during zoning debates far and wide, a rallying cry in neighborhood preservation circles not only in Seattle but in cities...Read more » -
Weighing the Critiques of CarbonWA’s I-732
Note from Alan: As I explained previously, Washington’s Initiative 732 has divided climate hawks so deeply that even writing about it is a task we undertake with trepidation. (To get a sense of the landscape, please read the introduction to the first article in this series.) Organizations and individuals we respect and have collaborated with for decades—indeed, many personal friends of mine—are on opposite sides of the controversy. Sightline has...Read more » -
Legalizing the Tiny House
Tiny houses may be the darlings of the green-living set—with their own blogs, TV shows and documentaries, and cottage industry of builders, planners, and consultants. But they’re usually illegal. Across Cascadia, to pass legal muster, residential structures must comply with one of three sets of rules: building codes, manufactured home codes, or recreational vehicle certification. They also must comply with zoning codes, which dictate not how they’re built but where...Read more » -
And the Most Car-Sharing City in Cascadia Is…
Editor’s Note December 2016: Great news! BMW ReachNow car-sharing service has expanded its fleet to Portland with 360 vehicles and added 330 vehicles to its fleet in Seattle. We’ve updated the numbers below: Last month, BMW launched its car-sharing brand ReachNow in Seattle, expanding into North America from its half-million-member stronghold in Europe, and I’ll admit that even I, a car-free bike commuter, felt a little dzzzzt of mid-life thrill as I downloaded the...Read more » -
Why Vancouver Trounces the Rest of Cascadia in Building ADUs
Editor’s note: This article is Sightline’s very first from our new senior researcher, Dan Bertolet. We’re thrilled to have him on board to help both continue and expand our work pursuing smart solutions to our region’s big questions on housing and urban growth. Read his full bio here, and follow him on Twitter at @danbertolet. Cascadia’s three largest cities have all sworn themselves devotees of the accessory dwelling unit (ADU)—also known...Read more »