Go eastward, young Americans

There's a reverse flow of population in the West, drifting from expensive coastal cities to interior boomtowns. It's definitely changing the politics of the Rockies, while also stirring resentments at "Aspenization."

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Another change at the top for ACT Theatre

Seattle's A Contemporary Theatre has just replaced its managing director, the veteran Seattle arts administrator Kevin Hughes, with his second-in-command, Carlo Scandiuzzi, whose title will be executive director. George Nunes is promoted to general manager.

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To lower housing prices, look at Chicago

Median condominium prices in Chicago, notes Harvard urban economist Edward Glaeser, are $232,000. That's very low, even a shade under those in Trenton, N.J. (The King County median price for condos is $285,000.) What do those smart urbanists in Chicago know about affordability?

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The special plight of family newspaper chains

Copley Press, owners of the San Diego Union-Tribune, is exploring sale of the troubled paper, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal ($). The paper has a daily circulation of 289,000, and the closely held Copley is based in La Jolla, Calif.

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A dramatic vote in favor of a rail transit plan

The weight of 40 years of paralysis about transit planning played a role in the Sound Transit decision to try one more time to convince the voters of the need for more light rail.

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Seattle and the elixir of growth

In some moods, I think that Seattle's business renaissance has peaked. Starbucks is contracting, Microsoft is stumbling, Boeing is losing bids, Safeco is sold, and Washington Mutual is sinking. Has our formula of rapid growth spreading across the globe run into the wall?

But then I look at the front page of today's "Marketplace" section of The Wall Street Journal, where three of the four stories are about Seattle-based companies. There's the story of Microsoft's scramble in the executive suite, with the sudden departure of Kevin Johnson, formerly in charge of the Yahoo merger campaign; Costco reporting an earnings squeeze as the prices for merchandise are rising faster than they can pass along costs to its value-seeking customers; and Amazon doubling its second-quarter profits as customers shift from shopping by car to shopping by online.

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How to be a modern mayor: the Denver model

Denver is about to have its 15 days of fame, as host to the Democratic National Convention next month. I suspect one star of the show will be Mayor John Hickenlooper, my idea of the best mayor in the nation. NewWest.net recently did a good interview with the mayor, and it's a fine introduction to his winning style. It's also an audio interview.

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Crapping on Seattle

In our rapid descent from in-place to laughing-stock, Seattle is now the target for ridicule over its expensive, dangerous, now-up-for-fire-sale public toilets. Slate.com is the latest to yuk it up with bathroom jokes. At least the raspberries over the Sonics have been pushed off the front pages.

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Sound Transit showdown

The votes for a 2008 submission of a $15 billion package now are almost there, thanks to some last-minute concessions to Snohomish County. The election will be risky, but the transit agency faces greater risk by waiting until 2010.

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Helpful policy tips for Dino Rossi

So far, not a lot of policy is coming out of the Dino Rossi campaign, but it may be very interesting when it does. That's because the Republicans are getting pretty desperate for bold new ideas to turn around their national tailspin. I'll give some examples below.

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Can Bill Gates also reinvent capitalism?

Michael Kinsley, the founding editor of Slate and a half-time Seattle resident, is involved in an interesting new project. It's a Web site gathering quality commentary about "Creative Capitalism." It's well worth looking at.

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As the Sonics leave town, it may help the arts

In all the reporting about the Sonics decision, we tend to overlook the intense clamoring over a taxing source, the so-called "stadium taxes," that bedevils the politics. A lot of groups want to lay claim to those taxes, which are supposed to go away after the Kingdome, Safeco Field, and Qwest Field are paid off, but are really catnip to politicians for their pet causes. The taxes have two attractions: they are not really an "increase" if you just extend their life, and they fall mostly on visitors, who don't vote locally.

One of the main supplicants is the arts. Thereby hangs an interesting story.

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The Sonics decision that wasn't

The last-minute settlement over the Seattle SuperSonics is sadly typical of politics around here. Why settle something when you can drag it on for years to come? Maybe we should call the new team, in the unlikely event it ever arrives here, the Seattle Viaducts.

Settling in a firm way a heated public debate like this one is risky for politicians, which is why they look for face-saving irresolution. Once something is settled, the losing side goes into permanent opposition, rather than holding out hope and courting favor with all the parties. The plan is to hold out a win-win solution, sometime in the hazy beyond.

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The top-two primary may cost Ron Sims his job

King County Council member Larry Phillips is starting to get organized to challenge fellow Democrat Ron Sims for County Executive in 2009, according to this account in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Ordinarily a Democrat wouldn't have much chance of toppling a still-popular Democratic incumbent, but our new election laws are changing the odds.

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UW's new College of the Environment could bring in the green

The vision is to make the University of Washington and the region a major player in the post-carbon economy. Big stuff. Whether President Mark Emmert can make it happen is an open question, however.

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A Tadao Ando chapel may soon find a home in Bellevue

The building designed by the acclaimed Japanese architect would be donated by an Eastside arts patron, Barney Ebsworth. A site has been found, but it will take an economic recovery to fund it. Seattle tried but failed to land the prize.

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The Sonics trial pulls aside a political curtain

The trial of the Sonics had a few revelations this week, though no clear indication of which way it will come out. Perhaps the most interesting aspect was the way heavy political lifting is done these days. It takes on the form of backstage public-private partnerships, with lawfirms doing a lot of the work and strategizing, so that elected officials have some distance and deniability if it doesn't work. This is not shocking news, but we did get some rare specifics.

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Rah, rah for the home team

Home-grown sports teams, airplane builders, and banks are reeling from competition and free trade, and the local mood is to beat up on the outsiders. Tempting, but is it smart?

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A message from Publisher David Brewster

The best way to get the Crosscut habit is to sign up for our free Daily E-Mail, which provides capsule descriptions and links to our top new stories each day and a few selected stories in other media. No charge, no muss, mighty fast! And the best time to sign up is right now, while we are running a subscription drive with nifty prizes for each fifth person who signs up. The prizes: two tickets for ACT's new Noel Coward tribute; dual memberships at Town Hall; or $10 gift certificates for Elliott Bay Books.

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Mayor Nickels expands his horizons

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels has mounted a new national stage, to go along with his climate-change leadership role. This one is about metropolitan regionalism. The mayor is joining a national crusade by the Brookings Institution, hoping to steer more and wiser funding to American metropolitan regions. The key argument, not exactly a new one, is that cities generate most American wealth and innovations, so the rural-oriented Congress ought to get on board.

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Is Obama something of a conservative?

Bruce Bartlett, a conservative writer, has a fascinating article in the new New Republic speculating on how many conservatives are defecting to Barack Obama. He finds a fair number of libertarians, such as Andrew Sullivan, in the camp of Obamacons, as well as Republicans who oppose the Iraq War and even a smattering of supply-siders.

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Hey, hey, LBJ

For some reason, the best route for getting elected is still to run against government, making one wonder if a scientist, say, would ever think of applying for a research job by pointing out how much he or she hates science. This curious distrust of politics, running high in the Obama mania, also leads to a lot of historical injustice. Take the case of Lyndon Johnson, the forgotten president.

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A bold plan to turn UW into a Stanford died a quiet death

State universities have clumsy and stingy masters in state capitols. Is it time for divorce court? Here's the story of how some people advising the University of Washington looked at such a scheme.

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Memo to our sinking ferries: Think bold!

Over the weekend, The Seattle Times published a good overview of what ails our ferry system. Tim Eyman, by cutting the motor-vehicle tax, launched the first harpoon. Out of money, the ferry captains deferred maintenance and jacked up fares, sending usage downward.

The message seems to be: retrenchment. Maybe the opposite course makes more sense?

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Strange figure sighted at the City Council

Oddly enough for a public figure, but Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels is rather shy. And one place where he rarely shows his face is at City Hall, except around his top-floor offices. So it was big news when he suddenly showed up in City Council offices Thursday, working the corridor and greeting the councilmembers. "It made for a lot of buzz," said Tim Burgess, one councilmember who had been urging Hizzoner to "come on down."

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Seattle area, San Juans lead the local wealth parade

Mike Parks, editor of the valuable Marple's Pacific Northwest Letter ($), has posted some fascinating data about levels of wealth in Washington and Oregon, digging into the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis figures for 2006, the most recent year available. The figures show how much Washington's richest counties are outstripping other nearby states.

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Psst! Wanna see the Viaduct disappear?

The debate about Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct used to be a very public, contact sport, but as many local politicians were carted off the field, the controversy moved to a 30-person stakeholders group, who meet very quietly. Meanwhile, the politicians edge back onto the playing field and hint at solutions.

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Discords in the violin sections

The concertmaster post (leader of the first violin section) is proving a hot seat in Seattle. Marjorie Kransberg-Talvi, longtime leader of the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra, has resigned that post, unhappy at criticism of her playing by conductor Stewart Kershaw, effective the end of this season. Ingrid Matthews is taking a one-year leave from being leader of Seattle Baroque Orchestra, citing a need to take some time off. And turmoil continues at the Seattle Symphony.

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Can Conlin shape up the City Council?

Columnist Joni Balter of The Seattle Times has a good riff going in her attacks on Seattle City Council president Richard Conlin. She thinks Conlin is turning Seattle into "one giant kibbutz. Pesticide-free, of course." The latest to get her goat: Conlin's initiative to strengthen Seattle's food system, with all kinds of measures to promote healthy eating, healthy farmers, healthy attitudes.

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Does Clay Bennett's 'sweet flip' exonerate him?

Here's an interesting mind game. What if the Oklahoma City owners of the Sonics have been behaving honorably all along? News today of an email that envisioned a "sweet flip" of the team, keeping it in Seattle, makes such a theory somewhat plausible. Suspend your media-whipped anger at the Oklahomans for a few minutes, and follow me on a shrewd tale of modern capitalism.

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Attention lawyers: The Sonics game is over

Video commentary: It's time re-do KeyArena without the NBA.

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Mr. Ruckelshaus goes to Washington

Bill Ruckelshaus, well known in these parts for his leadership in efforts to save salmon and Puget Sound, is having his 15 minutes of national fame. The lifelong Republican has endorsed Barack Obama, with the timing meant to be helpful to Obama's primary efforts in Indiana, where Ruckelshaus is a still-revered native son.

Ruckelshaus has had his earlier moments of fame, notably when he joined Elliot Richardson in defying President Nixon by refusing to fire Archibald Cox. It was a moment of great integrity, typical of Ruckelshaus's principled character, and it may have cost him the White House. I can explain.

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Music critic Melinda Bargreen takes buyout at The Seattle Times

After 31 years as classical music critic at The Seattle Times, Melinda Bargreen has decided to take a buyout offer. She may return, after some months, as a freelance music critic, and says she'll continue to write book reviews at the paper. Bargreen has been a reliably enthusiastic critic, particularly of the Symphony, Opera, and Seattle Chamber Music Society performances. A pianist, she also provided extensive and informed coverage of concert pianists. She has many close friends in music, extending back to her days at the University of Washington School of Music. Here's the letter she sent around to friends and colleagues:

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Fred Bassetti and 'warmed-up modernism' in architecture

With The Seattle Times forced to make cuts, I hope they will continue being an unusual paper that puts out a Sunday magazine, with the local version called Pacific Northwest. One good example is an interview with Seattle architect Fred Bassetti, now 91, talking charmingly about life aboard the lovely, wood-embraced houseboat on Portage Bay that he has remodeled over the years.

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Why the Sonics should go away

Brave is the mortal who takes on Art Thiel, the Post-Intelligencer's ace sports columnist. Advocates for a Legislative fix for Husky stadium still think Thiel's withering column about that request sank the idea in a day. (Thiel dislikes the commercialization of college sports and has become the scourge of Huskies.) And now, he's arguing to defy the Oklahoma Sonics group until the last lawsuit dies. "Just say no," contends Big Art.

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Librarian Deborah Jacobs takes new job with Gates Foundation

Seattle City Librarian Deborah L. Jacobs, who joined the library system in 1997 and spearheaded a remarkable period of building new libraries, is leaving on August 10 to become deputy director of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's Global Libraries Initiative. The announcement is a surprise, as Jacobs had expressed her desire to serve many more years as City Librarian.

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Don't sell the Times, sell products of it

Second of a series: What the proudly independent Seattle Times Co. most needs is an infusion of expansionist ideas by taking on a go-go partner.

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