(Editor’s note: Chuck Wolfe is a land-use attorney and an affiliate faculty member in the UW Department of Urban Design and Planning. Chuck is a frequent contributor to Crosscut, but wanted to take walk on the wild side with the following post, adapted from this longer version.) >>> On Sunday, the Seattle Times asked how […]
[ Susan Hutchison and Dow Constantine facing off at the Seattle Aquarium last night. ] Did I forget that I had just taken a hit off the crack pipe, or did I actually hear Susan Hutchison say that Metro’s $100 million plus projected annual budget shortfall should be addressed by cracking down on unpaid fares? […]
Please join fellow sustainability and built environment leaders for a fundraiser in support of Mike McGinn. As a leader at the Sierra Club, he fought against highway expansion and last year Mike lead the successful effort to pass the Parks and Green Spaces Levy. Rather than sinking billions of dollars in auto-dependent infrastructure, Mike wants […]
That would be the same King County wherein resides a populace that is among the most highly educated, forward-thinking, and environmentally aware in the entire country. Â Allegedly. King County:Â birthplace of Microsoft and Amazon; one of the nation’s first municipalities to regulate the greenhouse gas emissions associated with development; former stomping grounds of Ron […]
As has just been reported at Publicola, Elizabeth Campbell and The Citizens Against the Tunnel filed a lawsuit today to stop the deep-bore tunnel. Check out the gory details here (3 MB pdf). Campbell’s group supports a new elevated solution to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct, but that is irrelevant to the case being made […]
Head spinning from all the conflicting stories around the tunnel proposal and Surface/Transit/I-5 in this campaign season? Here’s a record-straightening summary of what has gone on in the recent nine months and where we are now. Some very big problems are emerging for Seattle in this deal. Whatever you thought in January, you should be […]
Gaylord Nelson’s statement is a powerful standard by which to assess politics, and a revealing litmus test to apply to Seattle’s upcoming mayoral election. I don’t think it’s a stretch to concede that Joe Mallahan is aligning himself with interests that have it the wrong way around, while Mike McGinn’s core support comes from those who think […]
[ The horrors of Snowpocalypse 2008 ] One of the smartest decisions the next mayor of Seattle could make would be to retain Grace Crunican as the director of the Seattle Department of Transportation. But sadly no, both Mallahan and McGinn have said said they would not. Given Crunican’s record, it’s hard not to interpret […]
WARNING: The following post is political, and not only that, it’s about Seattle mayoral candidate Mike McGinn. For those HAC readers who find such content upsetting, I beg you, close this browser window now before it’s too late! ( Editor’s note: Alan Durning is the founder of Sightline, one of the Pacific Northwest’s most respected […]
Over the past week, the McGinn campaign: released position papers on the city budget, public safety, and immigrants and refugees announced a proposal for bringing more light rail to Seattle held four public “Town Hall” meetings opened a second campaign office in SE Seattle held a land-use policy outreach/listening session scheduled a high-profile fundraiser in […]
Though I suppose Joe Mallahan could still buy the election even if he doesn’t improve on the lackluster performance he exhibited at yesterday’s mayoral debate.  Despite Mallahan having a home team advantage—the debate was sponsored by the pro-business, deep-bore tunnel-loving Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce—McGinn clearly dominated. And that’s not just my pro-McGinn bias […]
I’ve been dreaming of a new City of Seattle department:Â The Office of Sustainable Urbanism. The kind of department a visionary new Mayor of Seattle might be inclined to establish. The Office of Sustainable Urbanism (OSU) would supercede and absorb the Office of Policy and Management, the Office of Sustainability and Environment, and probably DPD’s […]
(Editors’s note: HAC is thoroughly stoked to publish the following contribution by Alex Steffen, co-founder of Worldchanging, and one of the nation’s most forward-thinking and inspirational voices on sustainability.) I spend most of my waking hours exploring solutions for the planet’s most pressing problems. My teammates and I take in absurd amount of information, reading hundreds of […]
A little bird told me that Arthur Murray is going to officially announce the launch of his write-in campaign for Mayor of Seattle on Monday.  Cause everyone knows we mustn’t leave the mayorship up for grabs between two candidates who are not beholden to the insider Democrat machine that has gotten all too comfortably used […]
What comes next?* As Mallahan and McGinn now turn their attention to the general I thought I would post my $0.02 about what could happen next. I could be totally wrong about my sense of this but, from a political perspective, I think this is how to win. Stick with the tunnel! Detractors have whined […]
In the last few weeks before the August 18 primary election a meme sprouted that Nickels supporters should consider voting for McGinn because a Nickels/McGinn race would lead to a more progressive debate in the general election. There was also talk among some Nickels supporters that voting for McGinn could be a good strategic move […]
[ McGinn addresses the crowd tonight at Havana on Capitol Hill ] Whooda thunk? Half the votes counted. Is there any good reason to believe this trend will change when the other half is counted? [ The 11 o’clock news is on it, out in the parking lot on the 1000 block of Pike Street […]
I haven’t voted yet. And the fact is, my one vote will make no difference to the outcome of the election. But damn the torpedoes, vote I shall, which will put me in the minority—we’re told to expect something like 35 percent turnout for the August 18 primary election. Though Google knows everything about all […]
