Cascadia Report

Start-up university challenges education system

While many around the region worry that schools aren't churning out enough engineers and scientists, a new university in British Columbia has a novel approach: developing people who can think critically.

The Quest University plans to open next fall in Squamish, with a multidisciplinary approach evenly split between sciences and arts. The backers say the liberal arts curriculum and close access to teachers will make it unique in Canada.

"I don't want to say everybody who comes out of a big institution is just a professional robot," one of the backers told the Globe and Mail. "But real intellectual exploration happens when you're interacting, and I do spend a lot of time working one-on-one in small groups with my students."

A tale of rising taxes in two cities

Property taxes may be about to rise significantly in both Vancouver and Seattle. Exactly how much could become clear within the next week.

Vancouver is bracing for a tax hike of up to 6.3 percent to cover city services and costs related to the 2010 Olympics, pending a city staff recommendation due on Halloween. This year taxes reportedly rose 4 percent, twice the inflation rate, but officials expect residents would rather pay more than have services cut.

In Seattle, voters may decide to raise their taxes in next week's election. The most audacious plan is a tax to pay for basic services such as roads and bridges -- things the city hasn't adequately funded in decades. The nine-year levy would boost property taxes by more than 4 percent in the first year. A series of other possible increases are on the way to cover underfunded transit projects, schools and other high-priority functions.

Housing in both cities is increasingly unaffordable. It seems just a matter of time before residents reject additional levies that make housing more expensive.

Alaska Airlines adds nonstops from Cascadia

Alaska Airlines, Cascadia's dominant carrier, this week added a series of new nonstop flights to Mexico. More are likely on the way.

The airline added the first nonstops to Cancun from Seattle and to Los Cabos and Puerta Vallarta from Portland. Counting new flights from San Francisco and Los Angeles, the airline expanded its capacity to Mexico by 22 percent. Alaska is still dealing with on-time and performance problems, but recently said it may add more distant destinations.

What's interesting is that Alaska is increasingly courting non-vacation travelers. It recently added Spanish in-flight announcements, a Spanish web site and year-around nonstops to Mexico City and La Paz from Los Angeles. Will it eventually restore the business link between Seattle and Mexico Cty? (Vancouver has 11 nonstops a week, according to that airport.)

Transport fixes need leadership, not polls

Here's some shocking news: voters' view of an issue changes depending on the information they have.

That's seems to be the case when it comes to replacing Seattle's earthquake-damaged viaduct freeway. A poll earlier this month of 400 voters (40 percent over age 60), found 47 percent support for a new elevated freeway along the waterfront and 29 percent support for a tunnel. Politicians who can't decide have used the poll as proof of public support for a new viaduct.

But another poll of 400, mostly younger, voters found that 52 percent supported a tunnel when told of the cost and larger size of a rebuilt viaduct. Fifty-five percent supported a tunnel when told that it would create open space downtown. The second poll was sponsored by business and anti-viaduct groups.

The results suggest that representatives need to lead on this issue, rather than look to polls for support. Replacing the viaduct with a combination of improved surface streets and transit remains the least costly and most effective way to handle this opportunity to reshape the core of the city.

Making Washington a ski destination

With the 2010 Olympics about to focus winter-sports attention on the region, the Washington ski industry has a golden opportunity to market itself. But less-than-ideal weather, lack of overnight accommodations and expansion limitations make it unlikely to spring into the national spotlight, according to this article in the News Tribune.

Wet, heavy snow is one reason that skiing accounts for only 2 percent of overnight recreational trips in the state -- about the same as cycling and horseback riding. “If you can ski in Washington, you can rip any place in the world,” Chris Rudolph, marketing director for Stevens Pass, is quoted as saying. “But ‘Come ski our hard snow’ doesn’t exactly make a great marketing slogan.”

Most ski areas lack nearby hotels and can't expand because they are located on public land. Instead of trying to lure tourists, the industry is talking about modest improvements to keep locals from going to Utah and Colorado, let alone B.C. Crystal Mountain is expanding, building a hotel and adding transportation. But officials say the best marketing is with a ski bum image such as at Mount Baker, which supposedly sacrifices about $50,000 in corporate sponsorships to keep ads and TVs out.

Poll shows Democrats have a chance -- even in Idaho

Even the most reliably Republican corners of Cascadia appear in flux this year, with the outcome of a statewide election in Idaho apparently in doubt for the first time since the early 1990s, according to a poll by the Idaho Statesman and a Boise TV station.

Races for governor, a congressional seat and school superintendent are basically tied. Democrats haven't won an Idaho governor's race since 1990 or a seat in Congress since 1992. But the paper reports that this year could be different:

"At this point in a typical campaign, Idaho Democrats are dispirited and looking for moral victories," said Jim Weatherby, a political scientist who has overseen polling at Boise State University. "This time, it looks like they may actually pull off some major victories."

The election is still nine days away, however. The Sunday Los Angeles Times has an excellent piece on Karl Rove's plans to juice Republican chances and make sure any Democratic gains can be rolled back in 2008. The GOP plans to reenergize conservatives who may be flagging, make sure the party's campaign apparatus is functioning efficiently and put the resources of the federal government to use.

B.C. to pay for sewage clean-up

British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell Friday pledged that the province would pay one-third of the cost of building a new sewage treatment system for Victoria. The city currently dumps raw sewage directly into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

The funds could help avert a major PR problem for the 2010 Olympics, which are supposed to be environmentally friendly but face boycotts and protests if the capital continues to dump raw sewage. It also relieves friction between B.C. and Washington, where towns along the same body of water already paid for sewage treatment.

"The lack of sewage treatment for our provincial capital is an embarrassment to British Columbians," Campbell told CBC.

The Victoria region was ordered in July to come up with a sewage-treatment plan by next June. The project is expected to cost as much as $500 million but setting up a public-private partnership to handle the project is expected to help control costs.

Comparing the region's transit systems

A Seattle group opposes the premise of a rebuilt viaduct freeway, a replacement tunnel or a combination of improved surface streets and transit. It says those options don't solve any regional transportation needs.

Instead, the group suggests a system of transit lines that echos the role of the now-defunct Seattle Monorail.

The group, headed proposes a new tunnel for cars and transit under downtown Seattle, with lines leading to West Seattle, the north end and the suburbs. Unlike the monorail, which competed with under-construction light rail line, this plan, called Sea-REX, supposedly would complement other transit modes.

The group tries to make the case for more transit infrastructure by juxtaposing other cities' transit lines on a map of Seattle, located on this web site. It notes that even with the light rail line and Sounder commuter trains, Seattle's system will be far from regional.

Olympics organizers say they're under budget

The organizers of the 2010 Olympics said preparations for the games are on time and under-budget, contradicting a critical audit last month.

The Vancouver Organizing Committee report shows the games pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars more in sponsorship money than expected. Construction is under budget, the group said, following an injection of government money. Full details are expected next spring.

An earlier report slammed the provincial government and organizers for vastly underestimating the cost of the games, partly because forecasts didn't include improvements to roads and other infrastructure.

B.C.'s key industry likely to slump for years

British Columbia's key forest products industry is in for several more lean years, despite the windfall from the recent lumber trade agreement with the U.S.

Across Canada, the industry is likely to shrink through 2010 thanks to a slumping housing market in the U.S., according to a report Thursday by the Conference Board of Canada. The group forecast some help from a weakening Canadian dollar and gradual thinning of inventory, which should lead to higher wood prices. Refunds of millions of dollars in duties paid to the U.S., under terms of the recent lumber-trade agreement, should help soften the blow.

Still, B.C. is likely to weather the downturn better than the rest of Canada because of its relatively efficient mills, an economist at the group said. Production in B.C. may shrink by 2 to 3 percent from 2004 to 2007, compared to a 20 percent drop in Quebec and Ontario.

What's at stake in airport-for-land deal

The Port of Seattle and King County announced plans Tuesday to give the county ownership of a 47-mile suburban train line and the port control of Seattle's secondary airport, which is now county-owned. The stakeholders need to tread carefully.

Consolidating management of the region's airports makes sense. Currently no fewer than four governments control the major airports closest to Seattle, leading to competition that doesn't benefit taxpayers or travelers. Look at King County's attempt last year to lure Southwest Airlines from port-owned Sea-Tac, a move that would have added to road traffic and hindered the airport's regional role.

Unfortunately the latest plans may waste the valuable rail corridor, a 100-foot-wide swath that could easily accommodate a multi-use path alongside a commuter rail operation for much of its length. King County Executive Ron Sims seems focused on ripping up the rails to build a bike path, which would be a personal legacy, according to an earlier press release, but wouldn't significantly improve the region's mobility. Instead, retooling the train corridor could dovetail with Sound Transit plans for light rail and buses to serve job centers on the Eastside, and with additional commuter trains south of Seattle. Parcels that don't fit could be sold to help pay development costs.

Those details seemed far away during the announcement Tuesday. When asked what the deal would cost, according to the Seattle P-I, Sims said: "A lot. Wow, I don't think we've ever...I don't even know how to start counting. Hundreds of millions of dollars."

There are still many pieces that need to come together for the deal, which also involves other property and rail lines. But the focus needs to be on improving the mobility of the region and on getting long-term value for taxpayers, not the vanity of another bike path.

Following Portland's path to prosperity

Portland's livability is the envy of Cascadia's other major cities. A News Tribune columnist came up with a list of seven sensible ways Tacoma (and other cities) might copy from Portland's example:

1. Tax increment financing. Cities need to push the state to allow them to raise money for infrastructure improvements, which spur private investment, by borrowing against future tax revenue. The mechanism is already widely used in other states.

2. A public development commission. Set up a board to handle development and financing of projects, buffering them from constant political meddling. Vancouver did something similar when it redeveloped its waterfront land; in contrast, Seattle is an example of political interference run amok.

3. Build light rail and streetcars. Portland is building a new four-star hotel with 600 rooms -- and just 35 parking spaces. That's possible because of the efficient train links to the airport and around the city.

4. Elect leaders with vision. Politicians need to articulate a vision beyond and endless cycle of more taxes for more amenities. And voters need to demand that leaders articulate what makes their city livable.

5. Stick to an urban growth boundary. Focusing development encourages a balance between supply and demand while providing critical mass for services.

6. Give people a say. Respond to grassroots movements, like the ones in Portland to build a riverfront park instead of a freeway. The opposite would be to follow the conclusion of the recent Seattle Times poll advocating rebuilding Seattle's viaduct freeway. Politicians are already using the conclusion as cover, even though it polled just 400 voters, 40 percent of whom were over 60 years old.

7. A downtown university. Portland State University began as a downtown extension center and now sprawls for blocks, encriching the city. Tacoma may do similar with its University of Washington campus. What are other keys to success in other cities?

Port CEO gets raise despite poor results

Port of Seattle CEO Mic Dinsmore got another raise Tuesday, despite the taxpayer-funded port's lackluster performance and financial problems.

The 6 percent raise boosts Dinsmore's compensation to about $340,000, more than twice the pay of the governor and far more than heads of bigger ports around the country get. Dinsmore lashed out at port commissioners who questioned the increase.

Pay for performance makes sense and, in fact, compensation should be raised for public positions in order to attract more competent candidates. But it's hard to make the case for additional pay while traffic at the seaport and cruise terminals drops and as Sea-Tac loses its competitive position to Vancouver and Portland.

Portland rail project hits familiar obstacles

Portland will break ground on the area's first commuter train line on Wednesday, extending the light rail system farther into the city's suburbs. Of course it's under fire from critics.

The TriMet project will run 14.7 miles between Wilsonville and Beaverton, adding passenger capacity along the congested I-5 corridor. The trains will run on track owned and used by a private freight railroad, connecting park-and-ride lots through the suburbs to Portland's light rail system by mid-2008.

That's not good enough for critics, who point out that the $117 million project is expected to serve only 4,000 passengers a day by 2020. The claim tha the project won't take enough cars off the road is the same criticism still faced by Seattle's Sounder train and likely by West Coast Express in Vancouver.

In fact, the investment on fixed passenger-rail infrastructure is exactly what Cascadia needs in order to focus development, curb sprawl and lessen pollution from cars -- as the region grows. Let's hope the scrutiny makes TriMet pull off the project efficiently so similar the idea spreads.

Endorsements split on major Washington races

Washington's major newspapers have weighed in with endorsements for the Nov. 7 election, with several citing the country's runaway spending and Iraq quagmire as top issues. The question is how much sway will they really have.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Tacoma News Tribune, Everett Herald, Vancouver Columbian and Tri-City Herald all backed Maria Cantwell for reelection to the U.S. Senate. The News Tribune cites her mastery of policy and unease at retail politics, saying she "bears a striking resemblance to the man she unseated: Slade Gorton."

The Seattle Times endorsed Republican challenger Mike McGavick, citing his cost-cutting experience at Safeco, where he turned around the company's finances by slashing the workforce, raising insurance rates and shedding businesses. The Bellingham Herald and Yakima Herald-Republic also backed McGavick, saying his pledge to cut spending gave him a slight edge over Cantwell. Each said they wished one of the candidates would have advocated a change of course in Iraq.

In Washington's other nationally watched race, the Seattle Times and the News Tribune backed Republican Dave Reichert for reelection to Congress from the 8th district. They cited challenger Darcy Burner's inexperience and party-line attacks on the Bush Administration -- instead of on Reichert -- for the decision. Only the P-I backed Burner, saying that she made a strong case to unseat Reichert for his votes on the minimum wage, tax cuts and torture.

Vancouver has a fix for pricey mortgages

Vancouver is experimenting with a new way for families to meet sky-high mortgage payments: selling condos with built-in rental suites.

The first example is a project at Simon Fraser University, where 40 three-bedroom units have already sold. Owners get a three-bedroom condo, with one 240-square-foot bedroom featuring its own entrance off the main corridor, with a bed, bathroom and kitchen.

The project is a far cry from Seattle, where the city council just grudgingly allowed homeowners to rent-out part of their property -- with a raft of restrictions. Love of the city's single-family home status quo takes precedence over improving livability since limiting supply keeps prices artificially high and stifles demand for urban services.

In Vancouver, Mayor Sam Sullivan has said encouraging creative housing styles will allow the city to build more units with a wider range of options, which will help lower prices. One plan is to to consider reducing the number of parking stalls in new condo buildings, a step that would lower development costs and encourage transit use.

Bicyclists getting a say in city planning

Does urban cycling in Seattle have enough momentum to go anywhere? Or is recent planning yet another exercise in spinning our wheels?

Those are the questions of a feature in The Seattle Times Sunday magazine about Seattle's new plan to connect bike trails and make sure that road projects include provisions for bicycles. The city currently compares poorly to Portland, which has 156 miles of bike lanes, 68 miles of off-street paths and 30 miles of bike boulevards, according to the story. (Seattle has 25 miles of bike lanes and 37 miles of paths.)

In Portland, the amount of bike commuting has tripled in the last 15 years, even as the rate of accidents has decreased. That's partly because 1 percent of statewide transportation revenue has been dedicated to bike and pedestrian facilities since the mid-1990s, according to the story.

It's interesting that the story comes just two weeks ahead of a nine-year $365 million tax levy that would earmark about $38 million for bike-friendly projects. Specifics on what exactly would be done with the money are maddeningly few. The question remains: is it enough?

Latino voters gaining force

Latinos are a small but growing force in electoral politics across Cascadia. The bet is on when they will make a difference.

In Oregon, they make up about 10 percent of the population, but only about 4 percent of eligible voters and even fewer actual voters, according to a front-page story in The Oregonian. Latino voters are likely to be significant in 10-15 years. But this year, the Republican candidate for governor is betting that anti-immigrant policies will win him more support from working-class and conservatives than it will cost longer term.

B.C. names 'czar' to fix coastal economy

The British Columbia government just named a high-level official to jump-start the struggling economy along the coast. But the move is unlikely to be enough.

The region has been devastated in the last decade as its main industry -- logging -- has shriveled. An earlier revitalization plan tried to lure new investment into the region, which produces some of the world's most costly lumber. Instead, Weyerhaeuser sold its business in the area.

Naming a former deputy premier to coordinate policy for the coastal economy is an admission that earlier steps haven't worked. But the new "coastal czar" already has several demanding posts and is unlikely to pull off a quick turnaround.

New steps toward more regional air service

The prospect of commercial airline service at a second Seattle airport came into focus this week, with a report outlining how Everett's Paine Field could support such service.

The potential addition of regional air service is the latest example of airport supply meeting growing demand for air travel around Cascadia. Vancouver International and several smaller airports in the Vancouver area are already expanding.

Businesses north of Seattle want commercial airline service to the Everett airport, which is far more convenient to the area than Sea-Tac. Combined with more frequent, faster trains between Vancouver and Portland, the extra air service could alleviate the need for a new Seattle-area airport in the future.

Airline flights at Everett are discouraged by a 1979 agreement with the neighboring communities. Some neighbors still say occasional airline service would be a disaster, causing school test scores to plummet, asthma, pregnancy complications, dropping property values, and an overall lower quality of live. The airport is mainly used by Boeing, which builds 747s and 767s there, Goodrich Aerospace and smaller private planes.

Trade agreement sparks new questions

Now that a trade agreement with the U.S. is in place, Canada's lumber producers face a perplexing question: what to do with too much money?

The agreeement calls for the return of billions of dollars in duties on imported Canadian lumber that the U.S. collected since 2002. Canfor, West Fraser and Interfor are in line to receive about C$550 million, C$285 million and C$70 million, respectively. Some companies reportedly haven't decided whether the money should fund expansion into the U.S., special dividends, or just paying down debt

The fact that there's a question of what to do with the windfall, which could shore up otherwise troubled companies operating in a depressed market for lumber, is another sign of how distorted the trade agreement is.

Sale of Seattle biotech a loss for region

The sale of Seattle-area biotechnology firm Icos will likely result in the loss of many jobs. The question is whether the region will gain from the sale.

In the last five years, the leading firms in Seattle's biotech field have been swallowed by rivals, leaving just one such firm with a market worth of more than $1 billion. "If Icos had made it, it would have made us a center for the industry," Charles Hill, a University of Washington business professor and former Icos shareholder, told the Seattle Times. "It's a huge loss for the region, and a huge missed opportunity."

The current CEO of Icos said the $2.1 billion that Ely Lilly is paying for the smaller company is proof of its success. The fact that Icos, a startup in 1990, could be sold for that price proves that the region is a fertile place for biotech investments and should encourage more startups, he said.

It will be interesting to see if professionals from Icos, which employs 700, take their paychecks and start new businesses in the region.

Cascadia not alone with extreme commutes

Commuter tales of woe are becoming more frequent in Cascadia. Yet they're not unique, according to an article Wednesday in the Wall Street Journal.

As traffic worsens, commuters are hitting the roads and trains far before sunrise, stretching the traditional "rush hour" and spurring businesses to meet the extra demand. In 85 U.S. urban areas, congestion occurred an average of 7.1 hours a day on major urban roads in 2003, up from 6.2 hours a day in 1993 and 4.5 hours daily in 1982, according to the Texas Transportation Institute.

Some commuters to downtown Seattle leave home as early as 4:15 a.m. in order to beat clogged freeways. Sound Transit's earliest commuter train from Tacoma to Seattle now leaves at 5:45 a.m., a change from 6:20 a.m. when the service started in 2000, the story notes. The first daily West Coast Express commuter train into Vancouver leaves at 5:27 a.m.

One result is longer hours for service businesses. According to the story, more than 90 percent of McDonald's restaurants in the U.S. now operate on extended hours -- opening at 5 a.m., closing at midnight or are staying open 24 hours. McDonald's restaurants generally used to open as early as 6 a.m.

Traffic shifting away from Seattle's port

The number of containers passing through the Port of Seattle dropped again in September as traffic continued shifting to California and to other Cascadia ports.

Last month Seattle traffic dropped 7.6 percent, the seventh monthly drop so far this year. Port officials blame the decline on the draw of the large southern California market and say that cruise ships and other business will help Seattle weather the downturn.

The numbers underscore the need for investment in efficient infrastructure in order to hold onto trade-related business. Vancouver's port has continued to grow by investing in better on-shore transportation links, and Tacoma is poised to become the largest Puget Sound port this year. Seattle reportedly has the capacity to double its traffic to 4 million 20-foot containers a year by 2013, and Tacoma -- which has more space -- says it will be able to handle 6 million by 2025.

Vancouver's model for downtown living

Vancouver's downtown elementary school is so popular after two years that it's running out of space.

The crunch suggests the city is doing something that Seattle should emulate, according to this article examining the merits of living downtown for families. It includes the obvious point that Seattle can't open schools downtown until there's enough demand. Far more important is streamlining regulations to encourage more units of all kinds, which would eventually lead to more stores and other amenities. Middle-class residents and families will follow.

Why Washington property measure isn't 'only fair'

Campaign signs are popping up across Washington saying "I-933, It's Only Fair." But that's not the impression a spokesman for the measure left at a recent Seattle forum.

Initiative backer Steve Hammond, a former King County Council member, confirmed the issue is about fighting government. Speaking at an election forum last week in the Eastlake neighborhood, he said the measure would prevent the sort of oppression he felt a few years ago when the county passed restrictions on rural development.

Apparently rural landowners need a blunt instrument like a statewide initiative because they don't have the numbers to change the state's leadership.

"Why not just vote for new representation? Because you need representation that represents you," he said, noting that during the council's vote he was the only of 13 council members who was personally affected by the land-use rules. "If they vote (on issues) outside urban growth boundaries, they need to live outside urban areas."

According to the voter's guide, Initiative 933 would require government to compensate property owners when "regulation damages the use or value of private property." Hammond agreed that the government wouldn't have the funds to compensate landowners. Instead it "would be forced to act differently," he said. Such a rule would turn back the clock on community planning, essentially giving rural property owners the right to dictate development of the state's open land.

Indeed Hammond explained that small landowners currently bear most of the cost of the state's land-use rules. He told Eastlake residents who worry about gutted development laws that their urban neighborhood would be mostly unaffected. In other words, voters should let rural property owners do whatever they want with the land, regardless of the consequences.

It's true that policy needs to be fair, consistent and not hurt the little guy. That's a good reason to reopen debate in the legislature about land-use laws -- but not to support I-933.

Picks from Sunday's papers

1. A Seattle Times poll found that 51 percent of Seattleites want to rebuild the waterfront viaduct freeway. One-quarter each wanted a tunnel, a surface-street option or hadn't decided. Unfortunately the poll simply confirms the obvious because cost was apparently the main factor presented to the 400 people who were questioned. An efficient surface-street and transit package would win support if people were told of the construction hassles and massive size of a proposed new aerial viaduct.

2. The strength of British Columbia's economic boom may depend on what the Canadian central bank does with interest rates. The Bank of Canada is expected to leave rates unchanged at 4.25 percent on Tuesday but could indicate plans to cut them in the future. Central Canada's economy is on the ropes, thanks partly to the slumping auto industry. Could a sign of lower rates to help the rest of the country overheat B.C. and Alberta?

3. Polls suggest that Republicans may take the governorship in Oregon, a trend bolstered by a pair of profiles in The Oregonian. Democratic Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who won in 2002 by 3 percentage points, comes off as a technocrat who doesn't have much to show for his four years in office. Republican Ron Saxton, a Portland school board leader, says a governor needs to take on teachers' unions in order to improve education. Saxton has raised more money to fund his TV ad campaign and could benefit from voter frustration.

4. Seattle-area rental costs are soaring -- a subject Cascadia Report has experienced first-hand. Some neighborhoods have a vacancy rate of less than 1 percent, according to a real estate survey. Rents rose 7 percent in the last year and are expected to climb another 4 percent this year. Blame job growth, a slowing market for new homes and condo conversions for the trend.

Vancouver rail project hits snag

An expansion of Vancouver's rail system hit a snag this week with a report that the transit system doesn't have enough money. The dilemma is reminiscent of the situation in Seattle -- yet another example of Cascadia similarities.

It looks like TransLink may have to shelve two new train lines and other projects. It needs another C$400 million just to finish the proposed Evergreen line from Burnaby to Coquitlam. Some residents in the area that would be served by the new line are using the stumble as a chance to challenge the choice of street-level light rail instead of a Sky Train.

The TransLink board is reportedly considering additional taxes and asking the national government for help. Seattle's Sound Transit, which cut back its rail projects as costs soared, plans to ask voters for more money in 2007.

Maybe Seattle's policy isn't so liberal after all

Seattle's political leaders rage against President Bush and the support liberal events. But their way of governing, which effectively delivers spoils to their buddies and corporations, isn't liberalism.

So says Ted Van Dyk in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. He decries the big-government land grabs by local transit agencies, massive subsidies to companies like Boeing and perennial blackmail in order to raise taxes.

"No city, even our Emerald City, can govern itself this way without in time becoming New Orleans or Jersey City," he writes. "Grandiose public works projects go hand in hand with payoffs and public corruption."

He's mostly right. The area needs activists who are willing to question the status quo way of doing business. For example, someone needs to hold the Port of Seattle accountable for financial misses, mismanagement and waning competitiveness.

But Van Dyk misses a key point. Cascadia and the Seattle area need to invest in better infrastructure in order to cope with growth, and that means steppingon some toes. The region also needs a tax structure that encourages companies to expand here and makes it easier for start-ups to fluourish. The key is picking competent representatives who will do this in the most efficient way.

Vancouver gets major building boost

Canada's prime minister committed C$321 million to a series of transportation projects in the Vancouver area, aiming to make British Columbia the crossroads of choice for trade between Asia and North America.

The investment underscores the importance of smarter development in the Puget Sound region. Current projects, such as a regional mobility plan and Seattle's freight mobility program, may not be enough to benefit from surging growth in and through Cascadia.

The Canadian funding is part of C$591 million already pledged for the Asia-Pacific Gateway project, which aims to complement projects at the Vancouver port and to prepare for the 2010 Olympics. Among the first steps are a highway link to the Deltaport container facility, a new South Fraser perimeter highway and a series of road and rail overpasses.

Other investment will go to improving border shipments and to developing the port in Prince Rupert. It's unclear how much of the money -- if any -- would go to improving passenger rail service between Vancouver and the international border, which is currently the main choke point for improved service to Seattle.

Media leave potential threat to region underexamined

Cascadia's major newspapers have given lots of space to the latest saber-rattling by North Korea. But they're leaving arguably the biggest threat to this region mostly unanalyzed.

On Tuesday morning the papers could have marshalled "day two" stories about what North Korea's nuclear test means for this region, which is the closest part of the continent to the crisis. Instead, The Seattle Times, The Oregonian and the Vancouver Sun all pasted newswire stories and maps on their front pages. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer made due with just a thumbnail photo and tiny headline. An editorial in the P-I downplayed the threat and another in the Oregonian urged everyone to remember the oppressed North Korean people.

A story by Hal Bernton in the Seattle Times was the only one to include wisdom of local experts and to connect the Korea crisis to Cascadia, noting the extensive military ties and large Korean population here.

Sure, it's not clear if North Korea has the desire or capability to attack North America. But considering the overwhelming attention regional media gave to vague threats from the Middle East and the omnipresent threat of terrorism, it's time they devoted similar efforts to the serious danger from across the ocean.

Waterfront business worries and a sensible fix

Businesses along Seattle's waterfront say they would be devastated by construction of a tunnel to replace the dangerous viaduct. Luckily there's growing support for a less-disruptive option than a costly tunnel.

Businesses of the Seattle Historic Waterfront Association say the loss of parking, removal of sidewalks and visual clutter during construction of a cut-and-cover tunnel would cut their sales by 85 to 90 percent. They want to up to one-third of the total cost of the project devoted to mitigation.

Their protest lends support to another option that would replace the viaduct sooner with extensive improvements to roads and transit. Here's an excellent summary of the opportunity Seattle has to get this project right.

In memoriam of Helen Chenoweth

A memorial service was held this week for Helen Chenoweth, one of the demagogue-politicians who helped turn inland Cascadia into fertile ground for radical Republicans.

After years of feeding her neighbors' fears of government and outsiders, she was swept into Congress during the 1994 Republican tidal wave. She was famous for arguing that salmon couldn't be endangered when you could buy it canned at Albertson's. She saw the United Nations a threat to the American way of life and accused the Interior Department of harassing ranchers with "black helicopters."

She left Congress after three terms and died last week in a car crash in Nevada, reportedly with an infant on her lap and without wearing a seatbelt. Now her over-the-top positions are fading amid eulogies that admiringly note she always "said what was on her mind." No matter the revisionist history when it comes to her views -- her lasting legacy is Republican dominance in a state that was once solidly Democratic.

Ex-governors try to stop land-use initiative

Washington Governor Chris Gregoire and six of her Democratic and Republican predecessors came out against I-933, the so-called property rights initiative on next month's ballot.

Their logic wasn't new: the measure, which requires government to compensate landowners for restricting development, would cost too much and tie up land-use planning in the courts.

Yet bipartisan opposition may not halt the measure. Four living and former Oregon governors opposed a similar measure in that state in 2004 but it passed with 61 percent of the vote. In 2002, a Washington roads and transit package, referendum 51, was soundly rejected despite bipartisan support from politicians, labor and business.

Proponents of I-933, of course, couched the latest measure as a way for citizens to restrain an unruly government. "It's political, and government officials are opposed to an initiative that will hold government officials and politicians accountable," Dan Wood, a spokesman for the initiative and the Washington Farm Bureau, which backs the measure, is quoted as saying.

Alaska Airlines could be in play

Alaska Airlines could be a merger partner for a larger airline, according to a report over the weekend.

Cascadia's dominant airline has long been considered a takeover candidate because of its route network and relatively low operating costs. There's no evidence that such a combination is imminent, but the latest report comes amid continued financial strain and poor operating performance by the Seattle-based carrier.

Last week the federal government said Alaska's on-time performance deteriorated, with only 68.5 percent of its flights arriving within 15 minutes of schedule during August. Many late flights experience long delays; the Seattle-to-Burbank flight was late 87 percent of the time during the month, with an average delay of 55 minutes.

Alaska also announced that it would quit providing snack sandwiches on longer flights and instead sell food for $5. Other changes include switching to lighter beverage carts that would save jet fuel. The moves would reportedly save several million dollars a year.

Picks from Sunday's papers

1. Cascadia's booming beer and wine industry is learning to throw its weight around. The Oregonian reports that an Oregon booze association has showered $1.2 million on lawmakers. The result, the paper says, is cozy distribution rules and a state government that repeatedly shied away from using beer and wine taxes to cover alcohol treatment and schools during a budget crunch.

2. Roads are crumbling or washing away in national forests across the region. The money to maintain the roads dried up along with the logging industry in the early 1990s, according to a Seattle Times report. Now there's an estimated $1.1 billion backlog on repairs to national forest roads in Washington and Oregon. The decay hinders tourism, housing and fish runs. The story doesn't address the millions of dollars in the government still spends to build roads elsewhere as a logging-industry subsidy.

3. Tillamook is the new Hood River, according to a group that's trying to turn the depressed Oregon coast community into the next outdoor-sports hotspot. The group is using grants and business partnerships to transform the strapped community, which has always made its livelihood from farming, logging and fishing.

4. You can lock them up but then someone has to pay. Washington’s Department of Corrections wants another $175 million to cope with the leglislature's relentless crackdown on lawbreakers. The money would pay for more workers who could operate a prison for another 2,000 inmates.

5. One of the backers of the building boom in Vancouver and Whistler is aiming for a wider legacy. The developer started a charity called Builders Without Borders to build housing in Sri Lanka, Turkey and elsewhere.

TV ads, media sap meaning from race

Washington may be in for more aggressive TV ads in the U.S. Senate race. The gauzy, personality-driven ads that have blanketed the state so far have turned off voters, including Seattle-resident Michael Kinsley, who wrote this in Friday's Washington Post:

If you knew nothing about Mike McGavick except what is in his TV commercials and on his Web site, you would conclude either that he is a moron or that he thinks you are a moron. Democratic incumbent Maria Cantwell's ads aren't so wonderful either. They're mainly about all the federal money and other favors she's brought to the state. But if any of this is part of the "pork barrel . . . wasteful, out-of-control spending" that upsets McGavick, he doesn't say so.

McGavick has avoided talking about issues, because his positions won't please both the Republican base and the majority of the state's voters. Cantwell, whose reelection bid seems hardly even in question, just wants to run out the clock.

Kinsley blames the media for dumbing-down the whole political process by simply explaining how candidates use vague inanities like "change" and "families" in their ads:

The media do a better and better job each election cycle at pointing out and analyzing these campaign constructs. But by doing so, in a way, they legitimize it all. By raising up the subtext, they diminish the importance of the text. Don't be naive: You're not supposed to take this stuff literally. Politicians are trying to push your buttons. They aren't trying to communicate with you.

Should we expect more? Shouldn't specific proposals come from candidates -- especially challengers?

Time for Seattle to act on regional bridge

The Seattle area has studied ideas to replace the SR-520 floating bridge for years and finally settled on a transit-friendly plan that would shape the community's growth for decades to come. Now it's time to act.

The plan would build a six-lane bridge (including HOV lanes and a bike path) and a new interchange linking with arterials at the University of Washington -- adjacent to Husky Stadium and a future light rail station. It would allow easy transfers from Seattle's rail line to buses that would connect to the Eastside much faster than cars. It would help tie the Seattle area together in the way that transit projects already have in Portland and Vancouver.

Unfortunately Seattle mayor Greg Nickels proposed more study of the projects environmental impacts on the UW's arboretum. Now neighboring community groups want to block the project. No one who actually uses 520 regularly or who truly favors transit-oriented development in the region would allow this.

There are ways to trim the new bridge's impact on the Arboretum and Portage Bay, and there are ways to connect a wider bridge to I-5 without harming the neighborhood around that interchange. Why not make the I-5 express lanes permanently two-way transit lanes and link directly to the new 520 transit lanes? For the sake of the region's future, it's time to act.

Editorial shows flaw in 'property-rights' initiative

Here's an editorial that gets to the crux of what's wrong with Initiative 933, the ballot measure that would require government to compensate landowners for regulations that limit development options:

To tell government that it has to pay the individual for not interfering with water, air, fish or wildlife is like telling the policeman that he should pay me for not robbing the bank.

Governments have a responsibility to regulate individual actions that harm the larger community. Under I-933, governments would be required to pay landowners or, since they likely have funds to do that, waive the land-use rules altogether.

Campaigns both for and against I-933 have obscured the issue. But the bottom line is that the initiative -- which is mostly funded by the same group behind similar cookie-cutter measures nationwide -- would gut land-use planning that has been honed through years of democratic process. Here's a better idea: if citizens don't like the current laws they are free to vote out their representatives in county and state government.

Senate race still turns on personality

With U.S. Senator Cantwell agreeing to just two debates with Republican challenger Mike McGavick, the campaign remains stuck on generalities.

Cantwell has an imperfect record on the Iraq war and a vague strategy to end it. McGavick's views are more conservative than those of most of the state's voters and he needs to tack even further to the right in order to turn out Republicans.

That's why McGavick is still talking about personality, barely a month before the election. In this profile in Washington CEO magazine, McGavick explains that he led the insurance industry's trade group in Washington, D.C. but wasn't actually a lobbyist. It's a sleight of hand similar to his August confessional about a DUI arrest, which turned out to be incomplete. Will voters notice?

Watch local beer prices after fire

Will Cascadia beer prices rise after Tuesday's major fire in a Yakima hop warehouse? Seattle-area brewers say probably not.

The Yakima Valley produces most of the hops in the U.S., which in turn produces a quarter of global supply. The fire burned about 4 percent of the U.S. stock.

B.C. to privatize housing next

British Columbia's government plans to rely on free enterprise rather than public subsidies to house the province's poor.

Under a plan to be announced Tuesday, the government would make direct payments for use in any housing. There are reportedly about 14,000 people on the waiting list for subsidized housing in B.C.

The move has echos of the push in the U.S. for school vouchers and private-sector charities to take over government functions. It sets up another political battle in B.C., where the government has been privatizing services and cutting costs by closing schools and hospitals. Critics say that the government already has undermined the poor by cutting welfare payments so that private-sector housing is unaffordable.

Seattle may lose major employer

One of Seattle's largest manufacturing employers has run out of room and may leave the city.

GM Nameplate, which employs 450 in the city, recently sold its building in Interbay. The owners blame the high cost of housing, commuting hassles and the state's estate tax, which is on the mind of the company's 70-year-old founder.

The city wants to the company to stay and plans to help it find another nearby location, the article says. But how much can it -- or should it -- do to protect a single business?

Olympics foes threaten boycott

Opponents of the 2010 Olympics are threatening an international boycott to force organizers to cut costs and lessen the games' impact on the environment.

The group, 2010 Watch, says the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee broke its earlier vows for transparent financing, ensuring that poor residents wouldn't be displaced and protection of the environment during construction. The group also wants a province-wide referendum, claiming that a 2003 vote wasn't broad enough and that most residents would now reject the games.

A B.C. auditor's report found that taxpayers would be left with a C$1.5 billion bill for the games. Upgrading the Sea to Sky Highway between Vancouver and Whistler is hurting environmentally sensitive areas, 2010 Watch says, and growth of hotels in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside threatens poor residents there.

The organizing committee responds that construction plans will be modified as the projects progress but that other complaints eventually will fade away.

In support of a "50-state strategy"

Democrats are an endangered species across most of Cascadia, with little party organization and mostly ineffective candidates outside metro areas. That's why the new national "50-state strategy" of building Democratic operations even in mostly Republican areas is so important.

There are only 20 or so states where Democrats have a competitive organization, from the state level down to precincts. Most of the rest (Alaska, Idaho and Montana come to mind) have been written off by the national party. Building an organization in places where Democrats haven't been able to compete means less money for toss-up races like Darcy Burner's challenge to Rep. Dave Reichert (R - WA, 8th).

There's plenty of criticism that the party hasn't invested enough this year in order for Democrats to retake Congress. But the focus for Democrats needs to be on winning over the long-term and refocusing political debate around progressive values. There's limited value if, for example, Burner wins and is swept out in 2008 or 2010. Far more important is building a wave of support values that would carry any Democrat to win in that district.

The 50-state strategy has already been paying off in Idaho, where new staffers are able to respond to Republican talking points. Now Democrats need to field good candidates to challenge incumbents like Doc Hastings (R - WA, 4th), who face only token opposition now.

Libertarian mounts serious Senate challenge

Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate Bruce Guthrie plans to put his $1.2 million life savings into his campaign for the seat held by Democrat Maria Cantwell.

The money could end up taking a couple of percentage points away from Cantwell and Republican challenger Mike McGavick, who were likely to finish within a few points of each other. Guthrie's campaign previously raised just $31,000, compared to $16.8 million by Cantwell and $7.7 million by McGavick.

Guthrie's issues appeal to liberal and conservative voters. He wants U.S. troops out of Iraq, criticizes the Patriot Act, and supports same-sex marriage. He also wants to eliminate the federal deficit and strengthen election rules.

Picks from Sunday's papers

1. It turns out Seattle's booming downtown real estate market isn't just about symphonies and fancy restaurants. The people in this story enjoy the change from their previous single-family homes but note that downtown needs more variety of restaurants, shops and people to be a real community. The way to get there, of course, is with even more units -- which will eventually help lower prices -- and attracting a broader range of residents with infrastructure such as parks and schools.

2. Victoria is considering options to redevelop much of its waterfront, which was transferred from national to local control a few years ago. Details of one of the first projects are due next month.

3. A veteran Portland city commissioner has to choose, the Oregonian says, "between being the heir to Tom McCall and Mark Hatfield or being there for his toddler son."

4. The growth in container traffic is slowing at the Port of Tacoma as shipping lines shift to Southern California. The hiccup shows that Puget Sound ports need to become more efficient in order to compete with ports that have larger local markets.