Supporters of public transit are none too happy with Gov. Chris Gregoire after she decided earlier this month to veto a provision to make it easier for transit agencies to collect more taxes from the public.
That includes the sponsor of the transit-funding proposal, Rep. Geoff Simpson, D-Covington.
"Gregoire is such a major disappointment," Simpson said in an e-mail last week, right after the governor vetoed a portion of Senate Bill 5433. "While she is chauffered around in her black limo and on her private airplane, people who can't afford a car will be struggling to find a ride ...
Here is an excerpt from reporter Aubrey Cohen’s article in the Seattle P-I , titled: “P-I Globe Tops ‘Endangered List’ ” (click here):
 ”The most noteworthy of the other entrants may be Bellevue’s Surrey Downs neighborhood, because the threat listed is Sound Transit’s East Link light-rail line.
The trust called the neighborhood “significant as an intact, early subdivision of Bellevue exemplifying 1950s residential architecture” and notes the houses could be part of a historic district in the National Register of Historic Places.
“Collectively, they make up a great representation of mid-century modern design,” trust Field Director Chris Moore said Tuesday.
Bellevue City Councilman Conrad Lee called inclusion of the neighborhood on the trust’s list “a real treat,” noting: “Bellevue is a relatively new city.”
Sound Transit’s board recently chose a route through the area as its preferred option for East Link, though officials will continue to study other options.
The draft environmental impact statement for East Link says a portion of the neighborhood “is potentially eligible for the (national register) as a historic district” because of its post-World-War II ‘Northwest Modern’ style home designs. The review notes that the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation has deemed 35 houses in the area potentially affected by the rail project as potential contributing elements to a neighborhood historic district.
Moore called East Link “a needed project,” adding that he hoped the historic significance of Surrey Downs “is taken into full consideration.”
See Responsible Transportation Forum’s previous articles on the Surrey Downs Mithun & Neslund Mid-Century Modern homes (click here), (here), and (here).
Yesterday, on May 26th, 2009, the Washington Trust for Historic Preservation (WTHP), a 501(c)3 non profit organization, announced at the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle their “List of Endangered Properties”.
The “list” is essentially a list of historic resources in Washington State, that the WTHP has determined to be architecturally and historically significant enough to merit inclusion.
The designation is solely to raise awareness and advocate for preservation, and does not have any regulatory bearing on anyone’s property (in other words, property owners may do whatever they wish with their properties, including adding a room or redeveloping their property).
By listing particular properties, the WTHP commits to efforts to raise awareness about the historical resources, and to advocate for and work to preserve and protect the resources for one year, after which, they are placed on WTHP’s “watch list”.
The Surrey Downs Mithun & Neslund Mid-Century Modern homes were placed on the WTHP list due to the recent development that they could be the largest contiguous collection of Mid-Century Modern homes in Washington State.
See the list at (click here): http://www.wa-trust.org/MostEndangered/index.htm
Additionally, the Washington State Department of Archeology and Historic Preservation (DAHP) recently determined that the M/N homes are “eligibile” to be nominated to the National Register of Historic Places.
Another determining factor for the listing was the potentially negative impacts, including right of way acquisition (or condemnation), and other major impacts from some of Sound Transit’s potential alignments for East Link light rail.
Seattle City Council members Sally Clark and Dow Constantine spoke in support of historic preservation at the announcement, as did Bellevue City Council member Conrad Lee, who read excerpts from the City of Bellevue’s June 21, 2007 Proclamation that specifically mentions the architectural and historical significance of the Surrey Downs Mithun & Neslund Mid-Century Modern architecure.
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Okay, this is really interesting because it turns some conventional wisdom on its head. It turns out that the suburbs are not populated with urban refugees. Writing at NewGeography, Wendell Cox comes across what he calls an "unexpected truth:"
Much has been written about how suburbs have taken people away from the city and that now suburbanites need to return back to where they came. But in reality most suburbs of large cities have grown not from the migration of local city-dwellers but from migration from small towns and the countryside.
In looking at data from ...
Washington Trust for Historic Preservation has just officially announced its 2009 list of the “state’s most endangered historic properties,†which includes the fire-damaged Alki Homestead - one of four Seattle “resources†on the list, along with the P-I Globe. Washington Trust sent media organizations a preview of this for planning purposes last week and we honored its requested “embargo†of the list until this afternoon’s planned announcement, which explains:
Inclusion in our annual list is intended to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities facing historic resources across the state and ...
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