Shout Out for my favorite Seattle Blog
HUGEASSCITY
The photo above is the Seattle waterfront, featuring a pedestrian pier, a waterfront street, waterfront housing then a viaduct separating those from the famous Pike Street Market then apartments and condos and on top the core downtown business district.
Attention Seattlites:
Two events at one location, two important thinkers both with important messages, both here in Seattle tomorrow, 11/11/09.
Mark Danner: Reports from the World’s Hot Spots Wednesday, November 11, 2009 | 7:30 – 9pm(?)
Location: Downstairs at Town Hall; enter on Seneca Street.For the past two decades, author and award-winning journalist Mark Danner has reported from Latin America, Haiti, the Balkans, and the Middle East, exploring not only the real consequences of American engagement with the world, but also the relationship between political violence and power. From the fall of the Duvalier dictatorship in Haiti to the tumultuous rise of Aristide; from the onset of the Balkan Wars to the painful fragmentation of Yugoslavia; and to the invasion of Iraq and the legacy of the Bush administration, Danner, former staff writer at The New Yorker and author of Stripping Bare the Body, has visited some of the world’s most troubled regions, bringing back lessons on politics, violence, and war. Presented by Town Hall’s Center for Civic Life, with Elliott Bay Book Company. Series supported by RealNetworks Foundation, the Brown Foundation, and the Otto Haas Charitable Trust.
Alex Steffen: Building a Planet with a Future
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 | 7:30 – 9pm
Location: Great Hall, enter on 8th AvenueAt the Copenhagen climate summit in December, the world’s leaders will try to reach agreement on a path to a climate-safe future. As debate rages about how to lift the developing world out of poverty while redefining affluence on dramatically more sustainable lines, Alex Steffen’s answers are increasingly influential. Steffen, the Seattle-based editor of the instrumental sustainability site Worldchanging.com, has become one of the world’s leading thinkers on the planetary future, and his ideas on “bright green” environmentalism—sustainable, dynamic, prosperous, and fair—have a wide following in Northern Europe. Steffen will be keynote speaker at three of the major events during the Copenhagen summit, but first he’ll deliver a special two-night talk at Town Hall exploring what a bright-green future means for the planet—and the perils and opportunities that future will bring for Seattle. Richard Conlin introduces tonight’s talk, which will focus on global issues and big trends. Presented by Town Hall’s Center for Civic Life.
Attention Seattlites:
The Seattle Times ran a story in Sundays paper -
How an underdog named Mike McGinn took City Hall
How did Mike McGinn apparently take Seattle City Hall? The mayoral candidate had a fleet of volunteers so devoted they deferred graduate school, borrowed money from their parents and spent hours contacting voters for McGinn.
By Emily HeffterRead Entire Article
Seattle Times staff reporter
……
By all accounts, McGinn was the underdog in the race. He was out-fundraised by more than 3-to-1, and he lacked big-name endorsements. He was opposed by Gov. Chris Gregoire, the chairman of the state Democratic Party, and most of the business and labor communities.
What he did have was a fleet of volunteers so devoted they deferred graduate school, borrowed money from their parents and spent hours contacting voters for McGinn.
The grass-roots campaign seemed to tap into Seattle’s idealism, as McGinn spoke about listening to people and bringing them to consensus, stopping plans for a deep-bore tunnel to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct and expanding light rail.
Attention Seattlites:
Waterfront Viaduct Replacement - Deep Bore Tunnel Route
Notice there is no exit for Western Avenue the much used route to Ballard, Magnolia and Queen Anne. The tunnel would exit close to Mercer Street.
Via: Draft SR 99 Bored Tunnel Alternative
Design Deviation No. 3: SR 99 Length of Grade
MP 30.40 to MP 32.83
Photo by Atomic Taco
Blue Lights Over Duwamish: With Train
Part of the STart program, “Blue Lights Over Duwamish” by Norie Sato and Dan Corson is a glowing blue line of lights on the bridge. Trains crossing the Duwamish River trigger the lights which create a lightshow that plays off the bridge and the water below. The lights are on for about 15 second prior to the train’s approach and about 15 more after the train has cleared the bridge.
Alaskan Way Viaduct - Earthquake Simulation
From hugeasscity blog:
………Letter from five members of the Viaduct Advisory Stakeholders Committee:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:Huge Ass City is worth reading if you live in Seattle.
SEATTLE, WA — Oct. 26, 2009
Yesterday the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) released a dramatization showing the potential damage to the viaduct in the case of an earthquake. The probability of an earthquake strong enough to close the viaduct happening was stated as a 10% chance in the next ten years.
As citizens who served for a year in 2008 on the Viaduct Stakeholder Advisory Committee, we are disturbed that WSDOT did not share this video with us during the stakeholder process, even though it appears that they had paid Parsons Brinkerhoff to prepare it in 2007.
“From the beginning of the process, we had always operated under the assumption that the Governor meant what she said when she insisted that the Viaduct was coming down in 2012,” said Mike O’Brien.
“The deep bore tunnel was the only scenario that did not meet this strict deadline of removal of the viaduct by 2012,” commented Chuck Ayres. “All of the other scenarios we studied, including the two recommendations made by WSDOT, would have allowed for removal by 2012.”
“After watching the video, we are even more convinced that taking down the viaduct by 2012 should be a non-negotiable public safety priority of all parties involved,” said Mary McCumber.
“Would you sign a ten year lease on a building if you knew there was a 10% chance of it collapsing on you in those ten years?” asked Cary Moon. “By delaying the closure of the viaduct, that is in essence what we are asking the citizens of Seattle to do.”
Viaduct Stakeholder Advisory Committee members:
- Chuck Ayres 206.851.4312
- Rob Johnson 206.920.9578
- Mary McCumber 206.284.0605
- Cary Moon 206.624.1061
- Mike O’Brien 206.200.2980
Attention Seattlites
A group that is suing the Washington State Transportation Department over the tunnel project, arguing that WSDOT is illegally moving forward with the tunnel before completing a state-mandated environmental review; has released a boat load of documents. The records come from a massive public-disclosure request.
They are reviewed on PUBLICOLA site today.
From Publicola Online News:
BY ERICA C. BARNETT, 10/22/2009,
Public records from the state Department of Transportation (WSDOT) contain a number of disturbing revelations about the process that led WSDOT to move forward with the deep-bore tunnel on the downtown waterfront early this year…
Attention Seattlites:
Huge Ass City posts a thoughtful letter from Jabe Blumenthal prominent Seattle Enviornmentalist
