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A Fair Share of Streets (Part 1)
One takeaway from my last post on Portland’s courtyard housing competition was that it makes little sense to squander large chunks of scarce urban land by designing them exclusively for cars. Parking spaces, driveways, and even low-volume residential streets that sit empty most of the day are simply a waste of valuable real estate in growing cities. So Portland legalized the shared court—a common area in a residential development where...Read more » -
Zoning Part Two: Exclusionary Zoning’s End
As we pointed out yesterday, inclusionary zoning (IZ) ordinances—rules that encourage private developers to provide some housing to lower-income tenants at below-market rates—were largely a reaction against “exclusionary zoning” practices that made it hard to build low-cost housing in many municipalities. Starting in the early 1970s, hundreds of cities and towns across the United States began to adopt IZ policies. This raises a key question: how effective have these programs been in boosting the supply of affordable housing,...Read more » -
Zoning: Inclusionary v. Exclusionary
At last count, Seattle ranked as the fastest growing major city in America. The city’s growth has easily outpaced the projections of its decade-old Comprehensive Plan, which foresaw 47,000 new households (as well as 84,000 new jobs) between 2004 and 2024. Between 2005 and 2012 the city added 29,330 net new housing units—roughly 62 percent of its 2024 target in just 7 years. This rapid growth has stemmed in large part from...Read more » -
A Month of Disappointments for Coal Exporters
It’s been a tumultuous month for proponents of massive coal export terminals in BC, Washington, and Oregon. In fact, there’s been so much news that it’s been hard to keep track of it all. So here’s a synopsis of the month’s biggest stories: Oregon’s denial of the Morrow Pacific coal export project has sent would-be coal exporters into a panic. On August 18 Oregon denied a key permit for Ambre Energy’s proposed Morrow Pacific...Read more » -
“If We Cannot Escape, Neither Will the Coal”
Across the Northwest, Native communities are refusing to stand idle in the face of unprecedented schemes to move coal, oil, and gas through the region. It’s a movement that could well have consequences for global energy markets, and even the pace of climate change. Now is a good moment for pausing to examine some of the seminal moments of resistance from tribal opposition to fossil fuel exports. Yesterday, the second...Read more » -
The Holy Grail of Parenting
On a recent vacation, I had a perfect moment, one that so rarely occurs since I had a kid nearly six years ago. I was sitting on a deck, drinking a gin and tonic, and having civilized conversations with my husband’s oldest friends. Almost entirely uninterrupted. That’s because sandwiched between our restaurant and another across the way was a grassy field full of roving kid gangs. They were far enough...Read more » -
A Rx for Family-Sized Housing in Seattle
Most Northwest parents trying to raise kids—in an urban setting or no—can appreciate the importance of space. There’s the avalanche of stuff that modern babies seem to require, from diapers to strollers to whatever jiggly thing puts them to sleep. Until parents of young children make a secret pact to stop handing out birthday goody bags, there will be rivers of useless stuff coming into our houses. Urban families are...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 8/8/14
Jennifer A few months ago, I wrote about all the things it was illegal for kids to do in Northwest parks. This Berkeley playground is the opposite of that. Also, this piece by Seattle’s A-P Hurd does a great job of explaining how city requirements to provide expensive parking spots in new development makes building affordable, family-sized housing units in urban areas nearly impossible. It also mucks up good design....Read more » -
Warren Buffett Really Likes Oil Trains
Editor’s note: This article was originally published at VICE News and is republished here with permission. The people in the Musi-Café had no idea what hit them. At about 1 a.m. on July 6, 2013, a train parked on a slope a couple miles away slipped its brakes. Seventy-two tank cars loaded with crude oil accelerated into the town of Lac-Mégantic, Quebec and began to tumble off the tracks, detonating and burning with a force...Read more » -
California, Here We Come
Editor’s note: Washington’s Carbon Emissions Reduction Taskforce is weighing alternative carbon-pricing proposals. Recently, Yoram Bauman presented the case for Washington to adopt a BC-style carbon tax swap. Now, Alan Durning and Kristin Eberhard share the argument for Washington to join California’s cap-and-trade club. The good news is that Washington State may be getting serious about a price on carbon. The other good news is that Washington does not have to start from...Read more »