Archive for June, 2009

Community meetings are BORING!!

In an informal poll here are the top reasons people listed on why they don’t like going to community meetings… Top 10 reasons why people hate going to community meetings 10. I hate sitting in stinky dark gymnasiums when it’s sunny outside 9. Don’t like listening to people ramble on and on and on and […]

Unauthorized Rogue HAC Endorsement of Mike McGinn for Mayor

Disclaimer: The following is the sole opinion of Dave and doesn’t necessarily represent the views of anyone else past or present at hugeasscity (but probably does). Last night I had the pleasure of being invited for a leisurely bike ride down to Mount Baker to attend an informational house party hosted by the McGinn for […]

oh good, now i can feel so much better about that fucking gas station they built in my neighborhood

Wretchedness

Another warm and fuzzy piece of work by your friends at the phone company:  the QWest Building at 2nd and Lenora.

“The Magnitude of the Task We Are Now Confronting”

[circa 1941, from Alfred Korzybski’s “Science & Sanity”]

What It’s Going To Take

James Hansen, widely recognized as the nation’s foremost climate scientist, was arrested today for protesting mountaintop removal coal mining.  I’ve blogged about Hansen here and here, and was so moved by today’s news (via Alan Durning’s fb update) that I couldn’t stop myself from coming out of retirement for ten minutes.  No doubt we’ll be […]

The Price of Planning

The Roosevelt discussion from a couple weeks ago got me thinking about how Seattle funds planning work. Seems like this slow down in development should give Seattle a much needed opportunity to catch its breath and plan for future growth, maybe put something smart in place, or at least something more streamlined than the behemoth […]

Church

Urban planners love to talk about creating community.  Churches like the one above do it.  But they’re disappearing.  Huh.

Crosscut Wants Seattle to Do Density Right

For a newsource that has made some pretty wacky statements on urban growth in Seattle, like this, and this, and this, and this, and this, I was delighted to read this lead story on Crosscut today, suggesting a dense and innovative revision for the T. T. Minor property in Capitol Hill. Park space! Limited parking! […]

This Ain’t Indiana

I  have this dream.  Others share it, too.  Northgate Mall as we know it today: vast surface parking lot, underused retail, no housing on site, pedestrian dangerland, becomes a memory.   In its place is a vibrant, attractive, walkable, mixed-use community with retail, housing (including affordable housing), office space and open space. Northgate Mall was the […]

A Choice

The easy, safe, reliable, known quantity: Or the challenging, complicated, unpredictable unknown:

Taking Back the Vacant Lots

Since the destruction of the 500 block of East Pine – former home to Capitol favorites like the Cha Cha Lounge, Bus Stop, and Kincora Pub – to make way for another bread loaf of a condo development, the block has been anything but “vibrant.” The project has been put on hold, hastily paved over, […]

Dear Joel Connelly: You, sir, are a hack

Dear Joel: You recently wrote a letter to Jeff Lee, the owner of Two Bells restaurant in Belltown. I had the opportunity to read this “letter” on the PI’s website – mainly because it wasn’t really a letter, but a column. Actually, it wasn’t really much of a column, either. I’d say it was more […]

Lost

My Kind of NIMBYs

City Inside/Out covered the Seattle’s classic neighborhood story tonight. “Evil” property owner. “Angry” neighbors. Proposal for mixed-use towers next to cute craftsman-style single-family homes and a quarter mile to a future light rail station. But the angry neighbors are hardly typical. Led by the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association they fought to locate a light rail station […]

Get Your Group Blog On

Dan has no idea what type of monster he created if he thought a little Gone Fishin’ post would kill this thing. Oh, no, no, where one head was severed, loads more have sprouted, and this Hydra has all sorts of hugeass plans for this blog. So here is the deal: Over the next month […]