David Brewster, a founding member of Post Alley, has a long career in publishing, having founded Seattle Weekly, Sasquatch Books, and Crosscut.com. His civic ventures have been Town Hall Seattle and FolioSeattle.
I'm intrigued by a prediction from a conservative friend in D.C., who suspects a plot by Democrats to hold onto the White House. His three-cushion shot goes this way...
A decade of progressivism and new population has converted the city hall bureaucracy, the media, the arts, and the nonprofits into a Seattle shade of deep blue.
At City Hall, the balance of power will likely be decided when the council (not voters) picks a replacement for Teresa Mosqueda, settling the split between center-left (led by Sara Nelson) and the retirement-depleted progressives (led by Morales).
The star of the show is Spanish soprano Vanessa Goikoetxea, who as Alcina has two of the best and most-affecting arias and performs well as the manic, maddened center of action.
There ought to be a serious, substantive, energetic candidate entering the mayor's race. Right now. A candidate with strong ideas needs to start early, raising money, getting known, and getting educated about city issues.
The whole drainage system was cut by three-quarters, rather than developing the large Duwamish basin. And the delta of the Duwamish was turned into a polluted industrial waterway, its meanders filled and its main stem dredged.
Seattle, like many other cities, has built its arts facilities as a way to "save" downtown. But now, many cities such as Los Angeles are realizing that congestion, costs, and public safety are combining to create rival performance venues in nearby suburbs. That's happening here.
After the Civil War, the area was discovered by wealthy, horse-keeping Manhattanites. In the time-honored pattern, they built summer cottages there and later turned them into Gatsby-like mansions.