Civics and Culture

Route 8 is plagued by crowding and congestion. (Photo by Doug Trumm)

Metro Ending Backdoor Sensory Technology Across the Bus System

Shouts of "backdoor" are quickly returning to Seattle buses. A few months ago, King County Metro Transit began phasing out sensory technology for rear...

Reasons I Continue to Drive Buses

"A familiar face came into focus amongst the crowd. There she was: a middle-aged Vietnamese woman I've seen only a few times in as...

Forward Thrust Part 2: The Art of Picking Sides

The Forward Thrust bond initiatives of 1968 and 1970 were a success because of their ambition. They were also failures because of their myopia....

Mayor Durkan Renews Seattle’s Quest for Regional Partnership on Homelessness

On Thursday Mayor Jenny Durkan announced a new regional partnership to combat homelessness alongside King County Executive Dow Constantine. Mayor Durkan said consolidating provision...

Trees + Density = Livability

Last October, Seattle Weekly republished an article headlined, ‘Will Seattle Finally Protect its tree canopy’, which was followed a few days later by Seattle Mag’s...

For New Bus Drivers: Thoughts, Tips, and Stories

There's a ton of you guys out there these days. Welcome. Here's what I wish they'd told me when I began: Generally, bus drivers don’t...

Is It Time for a Radical Rethinking of Open Space in Seattle?

Seattle’s urban villages suffer not only from inadequate space to build multifamily housing, but there is also a massive open space inequity versus-single family...

Forward Thrust Part 1: No City is an Island

In December 2017 I had the fortune to pen, in my capacity as a columnist for City Arts Magazine, a retrospective essay about the...