Search Results
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Local Governments move away from the use of gas in buildings
Local Governments move away from the use of gas in buildings Cities and counties across Washington and Oregon move to phase out gas in buildings From Berkeley, California to Ithaca, New York, cities, counties, and towns across the country are addressing the carbon emissions from their built environments, which primarily derive from the use of fossil fuels. The Pacific Northwest is no different: since 2020, local governments across the...Read more » -
Five Reasons That Expanding the Trans Mountain Oil Pipeline Is Still a Colossal Mistake
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Pacific Northwest States Paid $700 Million for Russian Oil Last Year Alone
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is financed largely from oil and gas exports, predominantly to European countries. But while Cascadia mostly gets our crude from Alaska, Alberta, and North Dakota, our hands are not entirely clean of Russian oil either. The five oil refineries on Puget Sound that provide almost all of Oregon and Washington’s gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum products import millions of barrels of Russian crude annually....Read more » -
The Vancouver Region Is Leading the Way in Housing
Cities facing housing crises should look to Vancouver. With new kinds of land opening up, Indigenous groups looking to develop their land holdings in the region, and new policies to encourage different and denser housing in many of the 21 cities that compose Metro Vancouver, the region has hundreds of thousands of new homes in the planning pipeline. On paper, it may appear that Vancouver’s housing problems have been solved,...Read more » -
Cities’ Bigger Future Can Look and Feel Beautiful—If We Build for It
If you want a healthy garden, you don’t blast just a couple plants with the hose; you water everything slowly so the roots can soak it up. Same with a city or town: sprinkle some housing everywhere, and you’ll get healthier neighborhoods. Under Seattle’s Urban Village Growth Strategy, the city has funneled 25 years of growth into tightly designated areas without asking adjacent detached-house areas to evolve as well. Along...Read more » -
Cascadia and the End of Roe
Editor’s note June 24, 2022: In the wake of the US Supreme Court reversal of the Roe v. Wade decision that protected a woman’s right to choose an abortion, we are reposting this article from Sightline fellow Valerie Tarico. US federal protection of a woman’s right to abortion will effectively end in 2022. Even if the Supreme Court shocks close observers and does not kill Roe outright, it will...Read more » -
To Stop Building Heat Islands, Stop Overbuilding Parking Lots
Update, July 2023: In 2022, Oregon’s Land Conservation and Development Commission adopted rules to reduce minimum parking ratios for jurisdictions within metropolitan areas, with an option for cities to eliminate all parking mandates. It is a major step forward that will make it possible for future development to be constructed without building more heat islands. Urban heat islands got national attention this past summer after a record heat wave in the Pacific Northwest killed...Read more » -
Will Washington Do The Right Thing on Backyard Homes This Year?
Boosting backyard and basement homes—accessory dwellings or ADUs—does two good things to rein in home prices in Washington state communities: it increases the number of homes available, and those additional homes are more affordable than a typical stand-alone house.Read more » -
A Federal Child Credit, Explained
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Yes, Even Walmart Wants to Build Smaller Parking Lots
Nestled near the Columbia River in Wood Village, Oregon, is the largest Walmart in the Portland region. The building spans three-and-a-half football fields, but it’s dwarfed by something else: the surrounding parking lot, twice as big as the store itself. When it expanded from a Walmart to a Walmart Supercenter in 2004, its floor space increased by 45 percent. Its parking lot grew less, though, only adding 36 percent more spaces. Turns out, Walmart has been quietly reducing its parking ratios for years. Case study: Walmart follows consumer behavior, reduces parking “Every time we reevaluate, we pull it...Read more »