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Portland’s Vision Zero Plan
Editor’s Note 6/23/2015: A SUV driver recently killed a pedestrian in Portland. Eight days earlier, a driver under the influence killed a jogger. A series of fatal bike collisions and pedestrian deaths in Portland concerned citizens and prompted a protest ride to hold the city to its Vision Zero commitment. Portlanders are saying enough is enough. Sightline profiled Portland’s Vision Zero commitment earlier this year, and the urgency of the plan’s goals has only grown greater since....Read more » -
Cascadia’s Car-Sharing Super Bowl
You’ve probably heard that Seattle’s about to launch into a heated contest—one that pits city against city vying for honor, bragging rights, and civic pride. We refer, of course, to the Car-Sharing Super Bowl! OK, maybe that’s a bit of a stretch. Still, on just about every playing field there’s a hint of healthy competition among the Pacific Northwest’s three biggest cities—Seattle, Vancouver, and Portland. Car-sharing should be no exception:...Read more » -
A Carbon Pollution Policy with All the Fixin’s
A purely regulatory approach to cutting carbon is like Thanksgiving dinner without the turkey. But just charging polluters without any other policies is like eating turkey by itself with no cranberry sauce or stuffing to make it delicious, no mashed potatoes, green beans and yams to round out the meal, and no pie to sweeten the experience. In Oregon and Washington, we want the full dinner. Here’s how serving up...Read more » -
A Mom Rediscovers Her Bike
Editor’s Note 5/3/16: Does the record-warm spring have you craving to hop back on your bike… but still a bit nervous to navigate busy city streets? In this popular article, former Sightliner Jennifer Langston shows how you can get around on neighborhood greenways, a network of family-friendly roads. Read (and ride) on! I haven’t used a bike to get across town in six years. I know because that’s how long it’s been since...Read more » -
Weekend Reading 10/17/14
Editor’s Note: Recently, we invited board members to contribute to weekend reading when they like. Chris Troth took us up on the offer this week! And our fall communications intern, Keiko Budech, also added a couple pieces to this weeks picks—enjoy! Alan This article, which filled my heart with happy, is about librarians on cargo bikes in Portland who deliver customized reading piles to people who live outdoors. “Street Books...Read more » -
A Fair Share of Streets (Part 1)
One takeaway from my last post on Portland’s courtyard housing competition was that it makes little sense to squander large chunks of scarce urban land by designing them exclusively for cars. Parking spaces, driveways, and even low-volume residential streets that sit empty most of the day are simply a waste of valuable real estate in growing cities. So Portland legalized the shared court—a common area in a residential development where...Read more » -
Zoning: Inclusionary v. Exclusionary
At last count, Seattle ranked as the fastest growing major city in America. The city’s growth has easily outpaced the projections of its decade-old Comprehensive Plan, which foresaw 47,000 new households (as well as 84,000 new jobs) between 2004 and 2024. Between 2005 and 2012 the city added 29,330 net new housing units—roughly 62 percent of its 2024 target in just 7 years. This rapid growth has stemmed in large part from...Read more » -
Courting Families in Portland
When we moved into our house 10 years ago, no one on our street had kids. Now, there are eight on our side alone. My daughter lurks at the bottom of our neighbors’ front stairs, hoping she can round up a gaggle of kids. But figuring out where they can physically play outside can be awkward. Some of us have small decks and front yards, but they’re high off the...Read more » -
How State Public Money Pays for Coal Exports and Oil Trains
Communities across Oregon and Washington are growing increasingly agitated about the risks of fossil fuel export. Proposed coal terminals generated unprecedented opposition from local residents and, more recently, dramatic increases in oil train traffic have many questioning the grave safety risks associated with a cargo so prone to explode. Yet at the very same time, the state governments of both Oregon and Washington are bankrolling coal, oil, and gas infrastructure....Read more » -
Is a Land-Value Tax Illegal in Seattle?
As we’ve discussed before, land-value taxation is a smart tool for revitalizing cities. By raising the cost of land speculation, a land-value tax (LVT) would create clear financial incentives to develop underutilized properties near the urban core—helping to create new homes and businesses in the very places where demand is greatest. The basic idea of LVT is to tax land at a higher rate than buildings. But there’s a significant...Read more »