Anna I think I’ve already mentioned at least once that “I (heart) Justin Trudeau.” Well, it looks like I might as well make a weekly thing of it. Check out what he has to say about feminism and the importance of men identifying themselves—and comporting themselves—as feminists and teaching their sons to be feminists, too. Amen. … Read more
Alan When I was serving on Seattle’s Housing Affordability and Livability Agenda (HALA) committee last year, I wish I had already read Harvard economist Edward Glaeser’s 2011 The Triumph of the City. It wouldn’t have changed my mind on any of the core issues before the committee. My analysis, forged over three decades of reading … Read more
Anna We’ve written before about the sustainability genius of libraries (public libraries are one of Sightline’s Seven Wonders of Sustainability). And beyond books, there’s a growing trend toward community tool libraries (also brilliant). There’s no reason even a fraction of households in a city should invest in a tool they’ll use once or twice, a … Read more
Alan William A. Galston and Elaine C. Kamarck, both Brookings scholars and veterans of the (Bill) Clinton administration, have an intriguing critique of American capitalism in the fall edition of Democracy. Their accusation is short-termism—a fixation on near-term results at the expense of the future. Their argument, furthermore, is refreshingly practical. It puts the blame … Read more
The best books of 2015, selected by Sightline staff. Happy reading! Alan THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS By Rebecca Skloot ABRAHAM LINCOLN: THE PRAIRIE YEARS AND THE WAR YEARS By Carl Sandburg My favorite books this year were Rebecca Skloot’s The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, an extraordinary work of science writing that I’m … Read more
Serena The excellent local blog Seattlish called out a KIRO Radio host for poking fun at folks who use public transit in their dating endeavors (as part of an argument against the city’s smart new restricted parking zones). Seattlish then proceeded to crowdsource a bunch of sweet stories about people who used public transit and … Read more
Tarika In Portland on Saturday, a tanker truck of gasoline crashed into a parked train. In photos, such as the one below, the resulting fire can be seen blazing a few hundred feet from a liquid natural gas storage tank. The images are a strong statement on the safeguards we should consider as we experience … Read more
‘Tis the giving season! This week, we at Sightline share our favorite charities in Cascadia and beyond. We hope this helps inspire your end-of-year giving. Enjoy! Alan To me, perhaps the single most egregious failing of the United States (among several) is that ten times as many people with schizophrenia and other forms of severe mental illness are … Read more
Alan This news story about a baby killed by a car collision in Bellevue, Washington, filled me with rage and sadness. We’re getting better in Cascadia about prioritizing human safety over traffic speed, but still, our laws and streetscapes are so disordered and misaligned that things like this happen often—hundreds of times a year—and mostly, … Read more
Eric Sara Bernard points out that, whoops, the Gates Foundation would’ve made billions if it had divested from fossil fuels. David Sucher does the math for Seattle land use and demonstrates that just one triplex per single family city block would make a very significant contribution to meeting the city’s density goals. Rolling out a … Read more