Post Up: Our Weekly Roundup of the Region’s news

How is it possible that our regional light rail is taking so long to build and costs so much? And isn’t that the question about every huge public works project American cities have attempted in recent decades? So this week, after sounding the alarm about costs and schedules, Sound Transit finally made their painful decisions and revealed them to the world. And isn’t it interesting how an impending mega-event concentrates the mind… and the leverage? The World Cup — now mere days away — has turned every unfinished civic project into a deadline. Lastly, a couple of cultural giants left the building, and we are richer for them having been here and poorer for their passing. Our news roundup below:

Smaller, later, gated

The Sound Transit board adopted its so-called “affordable” realignment option this week — lines to Everett and the Tacoma Dome secured, Issaquah pushed out to 2050. They called it a victory, and yes, it could have been worse. But the Seattle Times asked a pertinent question, given the shifting realities: maybe the system we’ve got is good enough? (Converge Media; The Urbanist; The Seattle Times)

Meanwhile, Sound Transit is considering fare gates at up to 14 busy stations — Erica C. Barnett at Publicola weighs the logic. (The Seattle Times). And then Mayor Katie Wilson proposed doubling Seattle’s transit measure, buying the ability to beef up bus frequency that the trains won’t deliver (The Urbanist; Publicola). Doubling tax measures seems to be popular locally. The Library funding levy also asks for more than twice what the last one did. (Post Alley)

The rules change mid-game

A court ruling that dropped Monday against Seattle’s growth plan doesn’t just stall our largest city’s upzoning, it threatens the state’s whole housing-reform architecture, explains The Urbanist. There are more stresses on the civic landscape too. New New Housing and Urban Development rules put $26 million of King County’s homelessness funding at risk (The Seattle Times) just as the City Council gave the mayor an August deadline to sort out the Regional Homelessness Authority (Capitol Hill Seattle).

And do we need any more lessons in why we need Federal oversight rules and people to administer them? As Longview mourned the 11 killed in the horrific Nippon Dynawave implosion, a bipartisan deal hastily restored funding for the Chemical Safety Board, a watchdog facing elimination (KING 5; The Seattle Times). This infrastructure which seems unnecessary to those looking only at budgets, pays off when you need it.

Gooooooal: Deadline city

The impending World Cup residency here has heightened pressure to “spruce up”. The city’s pledge to move people from Pioneer Square streets into shelter before the matches was, by the Times’ scoring, another shot and a miss (The Seattle Times). Meanwhile, labor has discovered its leverage: hotel workers could strike on the tournament’s eve, and workers at the Walrus and the Carpenter have authorized one (KING 5; The Stranger). And in Pioneer Square, a new “welcome figure” holding Indigenous history rises as the neighborhood focuses itself into an arts hub (Cascade PBS; The Seattle Times).

Capital doesn’t wait for a levy

We like to think that governments and courts make the rules, but often it’s the private actors who jump first. A data center operator revealed plans for a downtown facility at an arts venue days before the council votes on a one-year moratorium. A Bed Bath & Beyond location used to occupy the space before Cannonball Arts, a music and arts venue, settled into the space. (MyNorthwest; GeekWire)

In investment news, Helion, the wildly ambitious nuclear fusion company, raised $465 million at a $15.5 billion valuation to commercialize fusion this decade. And the Allen Institute committed $400 million for treating the brain, after years of working to it (GeekWire). Melinda French Gates had the week’s busiest checkbook, though: buying a minority stake in the Kraken and her name on the reopened waterfront parks (GeekWire; The Seattle Times).

Giants Pass

Opera impresario Speight Jenkins died last week at 89 (NYT). As director of Seattle Opera from 1983-2014, he invigorated the company and turned it into one of the finest in the country. He had an uncanny ear for young talent, bringing young future stars to Seattle before the rest of the world found them. His production of Wagner’s Ring Cycle directed by Francois Rochaix and designed by Robert Israel was a revelation. And he was, at a time Seattle was building a serious arts culture, a great civic leader.

Historian Paul Dorpat died at 87 (The Seattle Times). For half a century his “Now & Then” photographs taught Seattle to see itself in time. He was a faithful chronicler of a city that has known many faces.

Sources

We monitored 32 Pacific Northwest publications for this report.

Major regional outlets

1. The Seattle Times — the Northwest’s paper of record.
2. GeekWire — tech and business with national reach and deep Seattle roots.
3. KUOW — the region’s leading public-radio newsroom.
4. Cascade PBS / Crosscut — nonprofit, coverage of politics, policy, and culture.
5. KNKX — public radio (NPR news plus jazz).
6. The Stranger — politics, music, film, and culture with a point of view.
7. MyNorthwest — KIRO Newsradio’s site.
8. Seattle Met — dining, arts, and culture.
9. The News-Tribune — Tacoma’s paper of record.

Civic, policy & community publications

10. The Urbanist — land use, housing, and transit policy; influential well beyond its size.
11. Publicola — Erica C. Barnett
12. The Burner — Hannah Krieg
13. Post Alley
14. HeraldNet — Everett’s Daily Herald; the paper of record for Snohomish County.
15. Seattle Transit Blog — transit operations and planning.
16. Seattle Bike Blog — streets, cycling, and traffic-safety.
17. Washington Observer — Washington political news.
18. Salish Current — Bellingham
19. Cascadia — Bellingham
20. Rainshadow — Port Townsend
21. The Seattle Medium — the largest Black-owned newspaper in the Pacific Northwest.
22. Converge Media — Black and urban community culture and journalism.
23. Seattle Gay News — LGBTQ community paper, publishing for 45+ years.
24. South Seattle Emerald — For the community. By the community. In the community.
25. West Seattle Blog — among the most respected neighborhood news sites in the country.
26. Capitol Hill Seattle — community news for the Capitol Hill.
27. Westside Seattle — Robinson Newspapers (Ballard, West Seattle, White Center).
28. Bellevue Reporter — Eastside coverage.
29. B-Town Blog — Burien and the south end.
30. Lynnwood Times — Lynnwood and south Snohomish County.
31. The JOLT — Olympia and Thurston County.
32. Jefferson County Beacon

We aren’t collecting from publications with hard paywalls.