Comments on: News Round-Up: Economic Recovery Needed

By: Allison Gifford

Allison Gifford — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:45:11 +0000

That’s a republican, not a conservative…

By: rex

rex — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 19:27:30 +0000

How so? Is Seattle really that liberal from the rest of America? It sometimes seems resistant to new ideas with its incessant indecisiveness.

By: Bernie

Bernie — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 05:39:11 +0000

Before you get too choked up on how we need to model our development after Holland consider that Washington State is less than 1/10 the density of the Netherlands and that 20% of the land area of the Netherlands has been reclaimed from the North Sea.

The Dutch have learn much from past mistakes and we can learn from them but Seattle is not Amsterdam. It’s not even San Francisco. Sure I’d like to see better bike options but we’ve simply got much larger distances to cover. That’s not a problem; it’s a blessing.

By: Erick Fejta

Erick Fejta — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:41:16 +0000

I meant to say few elected Republicans. I have no idea about Republicans in general.

By: Erick Fejta

Erick Fejta — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 02:38:45 +0000

I agree with you that few Republicans are conservative. Most advocate borrow-and-spend, pro-war fascism. Cheney is the best example.

By: Chris Stefan

Chris Stefan — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:34:40 +0000

There are Starbuck’s with drive-thrus though. Yes you can have both your espresso and your drive-thru.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:08:46 +0000

By that definition most republicans aren’t conservatives. That’s the common usage of the word rather than the most traditionally accurate.

By: Pete

Pete — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:08:39 +0000

I go to this starbucks about once a week, and it’s not a drive-through. It might look like it from the raod, with the single-lane, one-way roadway behind the building, but it’s simply an access route, not a drive-through. I don’t know if they had originaly planned it as such (the store layout would support that theory), but with the station overlay in place that will never happen; only existing drive-throughs are grandfathered in – no new ones are allowed.

By: Andrew

Andrew — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 21:03:44 +0000

He’s trying to say that Denver, San Diego, Orlando and Tampa aren’t especially liberal or conservative but that Seattle is especially liberal for America

By: Erick Fejta

Erick Fejta — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 20:15:34 +0000

I am not sure the principles I should use to identify Brooks as conservative. I have a hard time calling Brooks conservative using the principles of “small-government”, “fiscal-conservatism” and “non-interventionism”.

By: rex

rex — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 17:36:57 +0000

In David Brooks column, fourth to last paragraph, last line, states: “They are not, except for Seattle, especially ideological, blue or red.”

They being Denver, San Diego, Orlando and Tampa.

What excatly does than mean? Seattle, ideological?

By: tres_arboles

tres_arboles — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 16:35:49 +0000

@Erick-Is that supposed to be a serious question? I’m not accusing you of anything, but Brooks is pretty well-known as one of the self-identified, so-called “intellectual conservative” opinionists in America. Sort of like a George Will with dark eyebrows.

@Andrew–Thanks for the link to Joe Urban. Very interesting page. If the anti-HB1490 folks were being intellectually honest about their opposition, they would do well to have a look there, among other places.

By: Bernie

Bernie — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 14:16:38 +0000

Oops, my bad. I was thinking of S. Tacoma Way. Pacific north of I-5 could probably stand for a redo.

By: andrew

andrew — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:08:25 +0000

i dont want to get into a conversation about what a conservative is, but most people say brooks is one: for the iraq war and for john mccain.

By: Erick Fejta

Erick Fejta — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 06:49:41 +0000

How is David Brooks a conservative?

By: ericn

ericn — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 05:50:09 +0000

Re: David Brooks: I found his second-to-last paragraph pretty amusing.

“The folks at Pew asked one other interesting question: Would you rather live in a community with a McDonald’s or a Starbucks? McDonald’s won, of course, but by a surprisingly small margin: 43 percent to 35 percent. And that, too, captures the incorrigible nature of American culture, a culture slowly refining itself through espresso but still in love with the drive-thru.”

Apparently he’s never seen the drive-through Starbucks at Rainier and MLK. Which, for what it’s worth, should never have been built right across the street from a light rail station.

By: Shawn

Shawn — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 05:19:55 +0000

I thought I was acquainted with all Snohomish County transit happenings but there is a new project! What is this Mid Town Transit Center? I assumer it is in Everett. Downtown Everett is served by the Everett Station. North Everett has the center near EvCC. Everett Mall has the Mall Station.

By: Bernie

Bernie — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 04:03:34 +0000

What’s wrong with the traffic signals on Pacific Ave? I grew up down there and if you drove 2mph under the speed limit you could travel the whole stretch without stopping for a red. I’m sure there’s needs that have come up over the last 30 years but “way back” that was a shining example of how to synchronize lights. Something Redmond still hasn’t figured out.

Double Decker buses?

Kudos to the Obama administration for recovery.gov

By: Craig

Craig — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:34:11 +0000

Agreed.

I’d rather see them hack away at frequency before span and instead of cutting routes altogether, but it looks like all of the above will happen and exurbs will have to take the hit the hardest.

As someone who lives in the suburbs, and has no other choice but to rely on public transit no matter what happens, I would really hate to see some areas get cut off but again there doesn’t seem to be much of a choice.

By: Andrew Smith

Andrew Smith — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 03:04:04 +0000

No wonder he wanted out!

I hope they cut the lowest ridership exurban routes rather than the already crowded city and suburb routes.