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Last week Seattle’s new Mayor, Michael McGinn reversed a city policy that prohibited commercial parking near rail transit stations and sparked a controversy. In some ways, it’s a hyper-local, even neighborhood-level, controversy but it also makes an interesting case study for parking policies in cities and towns all over Cascadia. Parking issues can be a third rail in local politics and leaders across the region often confront a similar problems...

A boycott in Montgomery, Alabama; a march on Washington; “I Have a Dream;” a bridge in Selma; a Nobel Prize; a balcony in Memphis—the flaming arc of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life is now inscribed in American mythology. But in December 1955, when King was an unknown 26-year-old Baptist minister first thrust into leadership, the issue at hand—the particular cause—in Montgomery was African Americans’ right to sit with equal dignity...

French film-maker Jacques Tati was known for his unique portrayal of the humor and folly of modern technology. His most well known films feature the misadventures of Hulot, a character that is part Mr. Bean and part Inspector Clouseau.  One target of Tati’s critical humor was the automobile.  Here is a priceless clip from his 1971 film Trafic in which Hulot (played by Tati) is an automobile inventor on his...

On January 4, Seattle inaugurated a new, ultra-green mayor, which got me thinking comparatively. Which of the three largest Cascadian cities is the greenest? Not in plans and intentions and declarations but in facts? I recently pored over data from the Cascadia Scorecard and other sources. The answer? No contest: Vancouver, BC. It’s not so much Vancouver’s new rail transit line under downtown that goes to the airport (which Seattle...

Cascadia Center’s Bruce Agnew on KUOW last week: …there was no real media comparison to the tunnels completed here in Seattle, like the recently-completed Sound Transit Beacon Hill light rail tunnel, which came in on time and on budget. The Beacon Hill tunnel on budget? Not by a long shot. Here’s what really happened. When the tunnel project went out to bid, Sound Transit’s engineers estimated that the project would...

A stroll down a stretch of 2nd Avenue Northwest in Seattle is practically a walk in the park. The slightly meandering residential street is lined with wide strips of native grasses, small shrubs, and trees. Along the shoulder, interspersed among parking spots, are ponds and swales—gentle depressions—that fill with water during a downpour. What you won’t find are sludgy gutters brimming with muddy water and trash, or deserts of black...

As a veteran of Seattle’s neighborhood planning process—both as City staff and as a neighborhood planner—I am intrigued by Portland’s Eco District Initiative. It has a nice ring to it. But, what is an Eco District? The Portland Sustainability Institute describes it this way: An EcoDistrict is an integrated and resilient district or neighborhood that is resource efficient; captures, manages, and reuses a majority of energy, water, and waste on...

Remember the good old days when you could self-righteously point to spewing smoke stacks and foul outfalls as the big polluters? These days, when it comes to Puget Sound’s water pollution, we’ve met the enemy and he is us. For the majority of contaminants sullying the Sound, they’re getting there via stormwater. Stormwater is the rain that streams from roads, parking lots, roofs, highways, and some landscapes washing toxic chemicals...

Seattle’s planned deep-bore tunnel could get even more contentious soon. As state engineers flesh out their early cost estimates, a comparable tunneling project has hit another snag. The Seattle Times reports: The Brightwater sewage-treatment project, which is costing local ratepayers $1.8 billion, is delayed yet again because fixing a damaged tunnel-boring machine stuck deep underground will take months longer than originally thought. This should be eye-catching because Brightwater’s sewage tunnel construction uses a smaller-scale...

Editor’s Note: This post is part of Sightline’s Getaway to Seattle Sweepstakes. Sign up for one of our emails and be entered to win a two-day trip to Seattle. Seattle always ranks high on lists of US cities with green buildings, with more than 80 large buildings and nearly 50 homes now certified by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. Since the city began mandating green construction practices...