As proportional representation attracts more interest—like in British Columbia, where voters will soon decide by referendum whether to adopt proportional representation (PR) for provincial elections—commentators like David Brooks trot out the false belief that proportional representation “allowed an extremist named Adolf Hitler to rise to power with the initial support of a tiny fraction of … Read more
Note: This article is part four in a miniseries about how voters respond to alternative, and particularly proportional, voting systems. You can read the previous articles in this series here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3. Amarillo, Texas, is as quintessentially American as you’re likely to find. The panhandle city of nearly a quarter-million is … Read more
Accessory dwelling units (ADUs) are a tool in the fight against climate change. Garden suites, mother-in-law apartments, and backyard cottages—the compact size of these unassuming homes makes them remarkably energy efficient, cutting lifetime CO2 emissions by as much as 40 percent as compared with medium sized single-family homes. Yet many of Cascadia’s cities maintain policies … Read more
The darkest chapters of Northwest history still constrain our lives, whether we like it or not.
The scale of North America’s epidemic of heroin, oxy, and other opioids is staggering. Some 2.5 million people in the United States live with addiction or related drug problems that together are called opioid use disorder. The total costs to society may be as high as $500 billion annually. Tragic overdose deaths get media attention, … Read more
Unless it changes, Portland’s attempt to re-legalize duplexes and triplexes would only create 86 net new homes per year.
A Portland planning commission hearing crystallizes the divide.
A scant one-third or so of Portlanders will turn in primary ballots by May 18. Those ballots include two Portland city council primary races. If a candidate in one of those races reaches a majority of primary votes, the race will be over and the roughly 100,000 voters who skip the primary and only vote in November will never get a say. When campaigns … Read more
May has been a big month for small housing in Cascadia. Two cities—Bellingham and Portland—reaffirmed the region’s growing welcome to accessory dwelling units (ADUs), small homes that sit on the same lot as a larger single-family home, commonly referred to as mother-in-law apartments, garden flats, basement suites, and the like. Bellingham’s city council voted on … Read more
Editor’s note: For full disclosure, Jeff Thompson is a contributor to Sightline Institute. (Of course, many people concerned about sustainable cities in the Northwest contribute to Sightline.)That fact did not influence this article. Seattle’s Interbay industrial district is a landscape dominated by warehouses, small manufacturing plants, and parking lots, with hardly a sidewalk to be … Read more