Cascadia Report

B.C. plan could actually cut gas emissions

Seattle announced Monday that it managed to cut emissions of greenhouse gases over the last 15 years. Too bad emissions from cars are bound to continue rising.

Meanwhile in British Columbia there's serious talk of a policy that could really make a difference: a carbon tax. The proposal would shift taxes to give incentives for lower emissions. It seems a lot more effective than just encouraging everyone to ride bicycles.

Washington and the Seattle area need to think along the same lines. This report includes a chart of Seattle's pollution sources and how hard it will be to make more progress. Next steps should be replacing the viaduct with transit and better streets and then nudging the region toward a more sustainable transportation network.

Wanted at Sea-Tac: Pride of place

How does Seattle greet visitors? If they get off a flight at Sea-Tac's gate N-15, the answer is with a dingy jetway that has a severely waterstained ceiling, discolored walls and wet wood between the floor joints.

The dark and crowded North Satellite terminal was a jarring change after my recent flight from the airy, modern facility in Toronto. Luckily flights from Canada clear U.S. customs before they take off so at least those passengers can avoid Sea-Tac's 70s-era international arrivals area in the South Satellite.

Sea-Tac's embarrassment is about more than aesthetics. With its new facilities, Vancouver is wooing Seattle fliers and more business because airlines prefer its new terminal. Each flight means thousands of dollars in economic benefit on the ground.

There's a comprehensive plan to remodel Sea-Tac -- eventually. There also are examples of how to use the space more efficiently. It wouldn't hurt to start with basics.

Why I'm voting for Transit and Roads

The tax package to fund transit and roads in the greater Seattle area, known as Prop. 1, is a compromise: there are details for everyone to hate. I may be holding my nose, but I'm voting yes.

Consider what the measure does: it raises $10.8 billion to add light rail, HOV lanes, streetcars, park-and-rides and other transit infrastructure. It also generates $7 billion to fix some road choke points and complete several missing links in the region's network, for example connecting 509 and 167 to I-5. It's far from the sole solution, but it's a start.

For more info, take a look at this map.

What would be better? Funding much more transit, completing the projects much faster and explicitly including congestion pricing in the financing mix. In fact, the most persuasive argument against the measure is that any investment in roads lessens incentives for transit and worsens global warming.

But politics is reality. There's a huge backlog of infrastructure projects in the region and chipping away at it takes regional buy-in -- a process that in this case took five years. The dense areas of the region can't afford to pay for all the transit this area needs (remember the monorail?). To build support, there needs to be something for people who help pay but wouldn't directly benefit. Even with this package, congestion will still create a growing incentive to use transit; as alternatives start becoming available policies can be shifted to encourage even more use.

Assuming the measure passes, the next step should be reorganizing the governments that oversee the region's transportation to execute more efficiently. There will still be chances during the planning process to modifiy specific projects. These are all big challenges, not deal breakers.

Writing that captures the city

There's a nice elegy in the Seattle P-I today marking the 25th anniversary of the death of the poet Richard Hugo.

The author of "The Real West Marginal Way" captured the city in a way that may not be possible now that the area is more grown up. That makes his contribution more worth remembering than ever.

One place that builds on his example is the Hugo House literary center (where I serve on the board). From the P-I piece:

Most of all, Hugo, our hometown poet, tells us that writing matters: "It's a way of saying you and the world have a chance." In these past 25 years, multitudes of writers working in all sorts of genres have gathered in Seattle. We're now not only a bookish city, we're a city where the raw ore of language is formed into literature. All along the ridges and valleys, writers are working away, word by word, creating the drafts that we'll see later caught between the smooth, glimmering covers of books. It's the kind of industry that would have impressed Richard Hugo.

A crazy way to get around a city

People in Toronto have a crazy way of getting around the city: streetcars.

After a few days of enviously watching streetcars move through traffic-clogged streets (they have right of way), I finally snapped this picture on King Street.

There's momentum to expand streetcars in Cascadia, though it seems to be a question whether they could work in a city bigger than Portland.

Seattle has a tiny starter line and an expansion is a small part of the transit package, Prop. 1, on the ballot next month in the Puget Sound area.

Making a city for residents, not tourists

I just noticed this article in Vancouver magazine, pointing out the need to make the city serve its residents rather than just tourists, planners and the people who create "most-livable city" lists.

The writer finds fault with Vancouver's regional government system (exactly what Seattle lacks):

One of the biggest obstacles is political: planners are king here because our politicians allow them to be. Our at-large municipal system—unlike the ward system, with defined constituencies, which you find in most major cities—gives a free pass to city councillors. We select our council from a list of 100-plus candidates every three years, and they thank us by answering to “the city at large”—not to the widower in Strathcona trying to save the local seniors’ centre from destruction, not to the South Main sculptor trying to find a spot for his public art, not to the young couple in Yaletown trying to get a playground built near their condo. Such quotidian concerns become the domain of bureaucrats and enforcers, while politicians turn their attention to the “big picture” stuff like EcoDensity, Civil City and the Olympics.

By contrast, the Seattle area has the worst of both worlds. The Seattle city council is elected city wide (so they're not accountable to neighborhoods) yet there's no effective regional government.

The Hamptons, Aspen and ... Vancouver

Think the Seattle condo market is going out of hand? Consider Vancouver.

"I summer in THE HAMPTONS... I winter in ASPEN. My home, THE RITZ-CARLTON, VANCOUVER." That's the seductive tag line in a full-page ad on the back of the A-section of Thursday's Globe and Mail Ontario edition.

The condos, which run $2.25 million to $10 million, are part of a skyscraper building boom that will give Vancouver a tall skyline. The Web site address says much: vancouversturn.com.

They're also part of a trend that has made Vancouver Canada's priciest housing market. Meanwhile, Toronto -- a big presumed audience for the Ritz-Carlton -- is a bargain. Ads on bus shelters in downtown Toronto last week promised two-bedroom luxury condos near the financial district starting at $159,000.

Cost of driving makes ferry feasible

A boat owner wants to start ferrying commuters between Seattle and Gig Harbor for $800 a month.

The reason the idea isn't totally laughable is that new tolls, increasing road congestion and higher gas prices are beginning to reflect the actual cost of driving:

Dividing $800 by 20 workdays a month comes out to $40 a day. He said with the price of gas, the tolls on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge and parking in downtown Seattle, the ferry wouldn't be much more expensive than driving — and a lot less stressful.

A transit system that makes a profit

The Seattle area needs a variety of measures to fix its transportation woes (light rail, buses, streetcars, etc). Never mind that many people are waiting for a perfect, inexpensive, painless solution.

Instead, consider what works in Amsterdam:

Within the center of Amsterdam, trams are the kings of the roads; there are very few bus lines that travel strictly within the center, and parking is a hassle, discouraging driving. Taking the tram is easy because of the multitude of lines, speed, comfort, frequency, and affordable price.

Providing a practical alternative to driving alone (and lessening the incentives for driving) has led to increasing ridership, fewer accidents and -- get this -- a transit system that's even profitable. Of course, they had to start somewhere.

Ending homeless in Vancouver, Seattle

Seattle doesn't have anything like the Downtown Eastside, Vancouver's slum of addicts and homeless. But judging from the line outside a shelter on Belltown's 3rd Avenue Sunday, there's a serious poverty problem.

So what to do about it?

We could lament the disconnect between the poor on the streets and the rich inhabitants of new condo towers.

Prefer solutions? The Tyee ran a list of five ideas suggested recently in British Columbia. The ideas in the comment string seemed more promising (Evo Morales aside).

Consider instead King County's plan, which recognizes that money is only part of the solution and chances of upending modern capitalism are slim.