FoS.blog: The Friends of Seattle blog

Parks Levy Campaign's Website Is Live

The Seattle Parks for All campaign has a beautiful new website with a cool, functional social-networking feature and plenty of information about the fall parks levy. It even includes an interactive map and information about volunteering opportunities this weekend.

Upcoming Public Meetings on Viaduct Replacement Options

From the WSDOT Viaduct Project team's email update:

We are coming to a neighborhood near you to gather comments on proposed       replacement options for the viaduct’s central waterfront section. Come       learn about the plan to take down this section of the viaduct in 2012.

In September, WSDOT, King County, City of Seattle and the Federal       Highway Administration are hosting a series of public scoping open houses       throughout Seattle. These meetings are an opportunity to review current       project information and tell us what issues- such as noise, air quality,       traffic, etc.- should be considered in the central waterfront       environmental document. Project information is available at www.wsdot.wa.gov/projects/viaduct/centralwaterfront.htm.

The meetings will be held at the following locations:

Downtown
Sept. 11
4 – 7 p.m.
Plymouth       Congregational Church, Hildebrand Hall
1217 Sixth Ave., Seattle

West Seattle
Sept. 16
5:30 – 7:30       p.m.
Fauntleroy Church
9140 California Ave. SW, Seattle

Ballard
Sept. 18
5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Leif       Erikson Hall
2245 NW 57th St., Seattle

                                  

If You Zone for It, They Will Build It

Mathew Yglesias has it right when he observes that our built environment---which is dominated by single-family homes spaced far-apart on large lots---is not the result of some natural phenomenon or some inherent American preference for suburbia:

[T]o make a long story short, we have the built environment we have because of policy. The past half century or so has been dominated by rules about maximum lot occupancy and minimum lot size, parking requirements, and floor area ratio caps that were designed to produce something like the suburbs as we know them. Insofar as we keep those rules, the future will resemble the present. Insofar as we change them, things will change.

We think we should change our policies.

Did Anyone Else Already Know the Globe Is Dimming?

Holy crap. We sat down to watch a few minutes of TV today and turned to PBS. Our mood darkened immediately after watching a little of the NOVA program "Dimming the Sun." Air pollutants caused by human activity is not only warming the planet, but it is also reducing the amount of sunlight that penetrates the atmosphere. The consequences of global dimming are severe, with effects on rain patterns and more. But apparently the planet has been brightening lately. Check out the post at Wikipedia.