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Seattle’s schools are going through anotherround of budget crises.  This time, it’s a projected $20 million shortfall in the 2006-2007 school year.  It looks as though the school district may be forced to close some schools to help close the budget gap. Meanwhile, in other news, cityofficials (registration required for the second link) are still gung-ho to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel—a project that is likely to...

 (This post is part of a series.) A while back, the Seattle city government decided that it wanted to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct—the seismically vulnerable aerial highway that cuts off the city’s downtown from its waterfront—with a tunnel. But what neither the city, nor anyone else, has decided is how to pay for the tunnel, which the state estimates could cost more than $4 billion. So far, the city...

(This post is part of a series.) Two headlines today, on replacing the crumbling Alaskan Way Viaduct, the aerial highway through downtown Seattle that cuts off the city from its waterfront: Seattle P-I: Viaduct Funding ‘Impossible’:  Sen. Murray says U.S. won’t put up $1 billion Seattle Times: Murray Says Viaduct Request is DOA Now, I’m not one to say “I told you so.”  No, wait.  Actually, I am. But, more...

This piece by John Tierney in the New York Times Magazine is wrong in many ways, so it’s probably important to point out what’s right about it. To summarize the article (we read, so you don’t have to!): Cars are great, high-tech roads are cool, people who don’t like new roads are condescending nanny-statists who oppose consumer choice, public transit is too expensive, and the only real solutions to traffic...

 (This post is part of a series.) Last night, I spoke briefly at a lively public debate about the future of the Alaskan Way Viaduct, the elevated highway hugging the Seattle waterfront through downtown. Constructed in the early 1950s, the Viaduct is aging and considered seismically unsound, and is slated for replacement. The Washington Department of Transportation is looking at several alternatives for replacing the facility, including a tunnel, a...

 (This post is part of a series.) It appears that a growing number of Seattle residents are questioning whether the Alaskan Way Viaduct—the elevated highway that hugs the Seattle waterfront through downtown—ought to be torn down and replaced with…well…nothing at all. There has been a lot written about this in the past few years—especially recently. This is not nearly as radical an idea as it might seem. Portland removed a...