Puget Sound triage

Cleaning up the Sound for real requires political will, not feel-good projects that play well in the media but have little ecological impact. It means focusing on rural, not urban, areas. But that's not where most taxpayers live. It will also take a monumental infusion of cash, which could come from a variety of sources, including a mitigation 'bank' for private polluters.

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Pin the tail on the news event

There's an interesting story in The Seattle Times today about what Puget Sound is worth to the local economy — is it $7 billion or $62 billion? — but what really caught my eye was the map. The Times is now automatically putting Google maps with all its stories to locate the epicenter of every news item. Very smart in building a database of locations, but as we know not every story lends itself to the global positioning system (GPS). For example, where is the precise location of Puget Sound? This map sticks the pin about a mile off Shilshole Bay Marina in Seattle.

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Sausage Links, top-two headache edition

David Postman had a busy morning. First, The Seattle Times chief political writer reported the proper way to describe the death with dignity "assisted suicide" initiative. Then he dropped a political firebomb, reporting the state's political parties haven't yet given up trying to ax the "top-two" primary, with both Republicans and Democrats claiming the entire '08 election won't count. I thought that headache was over. Turns out it's just getting started. ...

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Sausage Links, "freedom to get drunk and blow stuff up" edition

Chris Mulick at the Tri-City Herald has today's top story, reporting this morning that Tim Eyman's Initiative 985 and the Service Employees International Union-backed Initiative 1029 would — if passed by voters in November — increase the state's budget deficit by an estimated $300 million.

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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 100-year gamble to save our quality of life

A close look at the ambitious "Cascade Agenda," which hopes to preserve the central Puget Sound region's natural systems from a Pugetopolis that sprawls all the way to the Cascades. The mechanisms are known, but it's not clear they can work well enough or soon enough.

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The dangers of imperfect storm predictions

In the wake of the investigation into the 2006 "Hanukkah Eve" rain storm that hit Seattle and drowned a Madison Valley woman in her flooded basement office, I questioned the terminology of "100-year storms." In doing a quick survey of media stories, I found that central Puget Sound had experienced a minimum of six "100-year storms" in 20 years. I concluded that the term was misleading. Now, with the terrible flooding in the Midwest this year, it's becoming clear that the terminology is hurting some flood victims.

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Seven premonitions you can take to the bank

Predictions at mid-year regarding sweet deals for developers, a Sonics boon, the precarious viaduct, a Boeing handout, Sound Transit, Pat Davis, and cleaning up Puget Sound.

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Saving Puget Sound is an economic problem

The laws and regulations that protect it from the most egregious dumping work pretty well, but the only way to finance the prevention of non-point-source pollution is to impose fees.

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Polimedia lunch links, flip-flop edition

Jim Camden at the Spokesman-Review mined his YouTube account for videos of Barack Obama's now infamous switch on campaign financing, while also noting John McCain's back flip on the off-shore oil drilling ban. ...

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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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The animal-waste problem is, and is not, a load of crap

Researchers in Snohomish County estimate that pets there account for waste equivalent to a city of 32,000. That's a lot of nasty bacteria in surface-water runoff.

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Beach fires? Let's talk about real carbon footprints

The Seattle Parks and Recreation Department is considering a ban of beach fires at Alki and Golden Gardens parks — not this year, as first announced, but next year — stating that beach fires contribute to global warming.

If the parks staff is really concerned about global warming, perhaps they will also recommend no fires in the barbecue pits at Woodland, Lincoln, Carkeek, and other parks throughout our city. Or perhaps they will cease using the large leaf-blowers at Golden Gardens, which blows sand off the sidewalk and parking lot, or stop driving around Discovery Park in large trucks. In fact, there are dozens of things the parks staff themselves can do to reduce the carbon footprint.

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Puget Sound perennial

Washington's magnificent inland sea is back at the top of the region's to-do list. But while virtually everybody yearns to do something about pollution, there is neither political nor scientific consensus as to what exactly is wrong, let alone what to do about it.

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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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The need for cruise control

An environmentalist explains why better federal regulations are needed to police polluters among the world's fleet of cruise ships: State and local authorities can only do so much. Over six months this year, Puget Sound will see 211 big ships bearing 835,000 passengers call on Seattle.

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There's nothing new in a plan to save Puget Sound

While the Puget Sound Partnership works to include citizen comment in the process of developing a plan to save the Sound, some scientists say they already weighed in — back in 2006 — but it looks as if their comments are being ignored.

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Puget Sound on Prozac

Pretty as it is, our signature waterway is a chemical dump for everything from oil to sewage — and even anti-depressants. You may be surprised (and disgusted) by what turns up there.

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Northwest travel: A quick escape to Whidbey Island

A mere 24-hour trip from Seattle can seem like a journey far away. For starters, all those lovely views ...

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A big, new growth management plan is already outgrown

The Puget Sound Regional Council's Vision 2040, to be adopted tomorrow, has been outrun by seven years of population growth in the very outlying areas the plan is intended to protect, says the recent former Washington secretary of transportation. He explains what's happened and argues for a recalibration of strategy.

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