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Better Voting Systems Boost Turnout
This is part one in a four article series about how voters respond to ranked ballots and proportional voting systems. You can read the other articles in this series here: Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4. US voter turnout is pitifully low compared with other democracies around the world. Though Oregon and Washington have relatively high turnout when compared with other US states (they ranked 8th and 12th, respectively,...Read more » -
Cascadia’s Recent Democracy Wins
Exciting democracy changes are afoot in Cascadia. This year the Washington state legislature passed a suite of bills affirming its citizens’ right to vote. Benton County, Oregon, is about to become the first Cascadian jurisdiction in nearly a decade to use ranked-choice voting. And British Columbians will decide this year whether to make their elections more representative by using proportional voting for their legislature, a powerful move toward more-representative democracy....Read more » -
Podcast: Sightline’s Margaret Morales Featured on ‘Democracy Speaks!’
Last month, senior research associate Margaret Morales was a guest on “Democracy Speaks!” to discuss democracy reform with host Cindy Black. Margaret provided an overview of the work Sightline is doing in the democracy realm (campaign finance, access to voting rights, and reforming voting systems) before focusing on proportional representation. Listen to the hour-long interview in its entirety via the “Democracy Speaks!” website. Part 1 is here, and Part 2 is here.Read more » -
When Polluters Pay, People Get Cleaner, Thriving Economies
This is an exciting moment for Cascadia, a time when BC has doubled down on its carbon pollution tax, when Oregon and Washington have promising bills moving through legislature, and when state leaders are acting on the clearly expressed climate action wishes of their constituents. It is also an urgent moment, as climate impacts take heavier tolls on our communities every year, from more destructive wildfires to damaged shellfish harvests, from...Read more » -
Don’t Let False Claims Stop Oregon’s Climate Action
Soccer players are notorious for dramatizing injuries, writhing on the ground in apparent agony, appealing to the referee to punish the other team for inflicting such pain. Once the ref makes the call, they jump up and run back on the field. Industry players do the same thing every time the public tries to put in place protections against pollution. They wring their hands and wail, telling legislators that the...Read more » -
Why It’s Not a ‘Green Light’ for Fraser Surrey Docks
Last week, a federal court in Canada gave a rare sliver of good news to a coal export project outside Vancouver, BC, that had been beaten down by years of disappointments. The court rejected a petition by two community groups to overturn a permit for the proposed Fraser Surrey Docks (FSD) coal terminal on the banks of the Fraser River. The ruling certainly came as a blow to the groups, and...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 2/1/2018
Alan US urban rail transit costs two to seven times as much to build as European urban rail transit. Similarly, British Columbia is better at controlling infrastructure costs than the Northwest states. American exceptionalism? As for most State of the Union addresses, I paid no attention to this year’s. The real state of the union in the United States is better captured by this piece by Steven Levitsky and Daniel...Read more » -
Washington Legislators’ Chance to Act on Climate
Washington’s foresters, fishers, farmers, and farmworkers have become painfully familiar with the impacts of climate chaos while American politicians have spent the decade kicking the climate change can down the road. Last summer, both sides of the state lived and breathed under a blanket of smoke as wildfires forced those effects right into the state’s homes. Washington schools closed, the government entered a state of emergency, and no one was left...Read more » -
Oregon’s Clean Energy Jobs Bill Is Poised for a Breakthrough
Could 2018 be the year that Oregon and Washington join BC and California and make climate polluters pay? Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington, is pushing a carbon tax (more on that soon), and Oregon legislators are again considering legislation to limit carbon pollution and invest in clean energy and other good things. In 2017, a bill to cap pollution, enforce the cap with limited allowances, and invest the revenue...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 1/19/2018
Keiko Folks are starting to understand—Backyard cottages and mother-in-law units are an underutilized solution to the housing shortage. This week, two articles—one from the Atlantic and the other from Curbed, describe how ADUs are a small but mighty solution to affordability. Many cities (like Portland and Seattle) have legal barriers that prevent ADUs from taking off: restrictions on size, owner occupancy, and parking requirements. Check out Dan’s two articles on...Read more »