Cascadia Report

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.

Worthwhile reads from Sunday's newspapers

1. Anyone who's driven through Cascadia's forests this summer has noticed stands of drying trees and the hundreds of thousands of acres of wildfires. This thoughtful front-page story in The Seattle Times examines the link between climate change and the infestation of pine beatles that has killed trees and left the forests easy prey for wildfire. The effect is very real: the Tripod Complex fire in Okanogan County covered an area three times the size of Seattle and cost $82 million to fight.

2. Oregon habitually spends 99 cents of every tax dollar, but has no buffer and relies on income taxes, which quickly dwindle in an economic downturn. The result is a fiscal roller coaster that hurts schools, the public health system and long-term investment. Coming up with a more stable system is a mainstream politicial issue for the first time, according to this report in The Oregonian, the first in a series.

3. The battle to represent Washington's 8th congressional district is heating up, with a flurry of TV and direct-mail ads. Democrat Darcy Burner and Republican incumbant Dave Reichert have reserved $3.6 million in TV ads, according to the report.

4. National forests in Washington and Oregon are planning to close, shorten seasons or impose new fees at campgrounds, trailheads and other facilities to reflect cuts in funding under President Bush's 2007 budget. It's hard to argue with some modest usage fees. But why should recreational users -- who generally have a small impact on the forests -- take an increasingly large hit while logging is broadly subsidized by the government?

5. While Vancouver International Airport continues its expansion as Cascadia's largest international gateway, several smaller Lower Mainland airports are starting ambitious growth plans of their own. Langley, Pitt Meadows, Boundary Bay and Abbottsford International all plan expansion projects that could generate jobs and business for their communities. New terminals and runways could allow passenger service to Vancouver Island, Calgary, Seattle, Portland and Spokane.

Portland's financing method should be copied

The financing of Portland's massive redevelopment south of downtown, detailed in Willamette Week here, is an example of how to partner government and private industry on large-scale development.

The South Waterfront project is turning a huge swath of formerly industrial land along the Willamette River into condos and offices. Public investment in the project totals $195 million, including $74 million that is supposed to be paid back by future property taxes. Much of the cost is to extend the city's streetcar, build a tram up the hill to a university, and add parks and affordable housing. Private developers have also committed $70 million, according to the article.

For similar projects to happen in Washington, the same funding mechanism, called tax-increment financing, needs to be authorized. Business groups have pushed the issue and are likely to raise it again in the legislature.

Portland's project faces criticism because so far there's less demand for all the planned condos and offices than when the plan started. Still it makes sense for government to lead private investment in this sort of development. The result could be well-designed communities with open space, adequate transit infrastructure and future costs already built into the plan.

Seattle's clubs, musicians may be on way out

Seattle is close to snuffing out its club scene and is losing the people who produce the city's music, according to a pair of articles in The Stranger. Whether you're a club-goer or not, Seattle needs all the diversity it can get.

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is drafting a series of rules that reportedly would make it easy to close down all of the city's clubs on drug-related technicalities. The proposal is unworkable in the extreme, as shown in this hilarious story.

Meanwhile Portland is becoming "Seattle's hot new neighborhood" as musicians move south. The attraction is a lower cost of living, an influx of talent into the city and new music venues. Not that this is a new trend -- the Doug Fir lounge, cited as one of the new draws, opened two years ago.

The proposed rules are part of a trend that threatens Seattle's character by discouraging vibrant nightlife. No doubt The Stranger would argue that outspoken coverage of these issues is important for the city. It's convenient that it also makes a brilliant defense of the paper's advertising base.

Cascadia envy?

Seattle broke ground today on a new 1.3-mile streetcar line that could one day link a series of dense, livable in-city neighborhoods. But let's not forget how incremental this step is.

Take a look at this thoughtful story that the Seattle Times resurfaced online today. Writer Bill Dietrich shows in painful (for a Seattleite, anyway) detail how the Vancouver and Portland have become models for development while the Seattle area has dithered.

It's all here: the historical differences between the cities, the different mentalities about growth and the prospects for the future. Dietrich describes what I've sensed over and over during trips north and south -- Seattle has wasted its opportunity. And he includes a challenge:

IF ALL THIS seems a little harsh, go visit downtown Portland and Vancouver. If you haven't been there for awhile you'll be astounded by their urban atmosphere. Ask yourself why our downtown parks are so few and uninviting, in comparison. Why our waterfront access pales. Why our transportation choices are so much more limited. Why our sidewalks are plainer, our street trees fewer, our housing choices narrower, our towers uglier, our choices so nonsensical.

Cascadia has grown more integrated since this article appeared. But I wonder how much we've learned?

Conservation Voters Rate Politicians on Business Votes

Rep. Dave Reichert (R - WA, 8th) got a 28% rating by the League of Conservation Voters in its 2005 Conservation Scorecard. The rating counts votes on business issues such as renewable energy, fuel economy, gas and oil refineries, funding for logging roads and the Central American Free Trade Agreeement. Adam Smith (D - 9th) and Jay Inslee (D - 1st) got perfect scores. Eastern Washington's Doc Hastings (R - 4th) and Cathy McMorris (R - 5th) got 0% ratings.

Four of Oregon's representatives got 100% ratings, but Rep. Greg Walden (R - OR, 2nd) got 11%.