The Weekly Alternative

Deschutes River courtesy of Wikipedia

Its that wonderful time of week again. This time let's do South to North.

[The Guardian]: San Fran Politicians have unanimously backed a $185 million parks bond called Proposition A. While many hail this as a uniting environmental pursuit some question the sum of this project. Many argue that the $110 million bond passed in 2000 only helped for repairs and didn't do much for additional green space. As well, a recent analysis identified at least $1.7 billion worth of backlogged park needs which the $185 million could only begin to puncture. The bond needs a 66 percent voter approval in February to pass.

[Editor's note: I just wanted to draw a comparison to Seattle on this issue. While Seattle has about 250,000 people less than San Fran, it passed a $198 million Pro-Parks bond in 2000 and many hope to see that renewed if not increased in the next year or so.]

[The Source]: The City of Bend has seen significant financial troubles as homebuilding in the area continues to slow. Wrestling with a $2.7 million shortfall this year the city decided to lay-off Pat Kliewer, historic preservation planner for the city. Historic properties are abundant in Bend and its neighboring cities and some fear that this could change with Kliewer as a "watchdog".

[Eugene Weekly]: What's better Bus Rapid Trasit or Light Rail? Eugene politicians claim BRT but some citizens aren't buying it.

[Portland Mercury]: While Oregon was suppose to allow same-sex marriages starting January 2, recent events have complicated the process. A number of legal hearings, as well as number of rallies, are now scheduled through February about gay rights issues. In related news, Dan Savage has endorsed Sam Adams for Mayor of Portland.

[The Stranger]: Class issues in Seattle come to the front again as the City of Seattle denies commercial space in Sodo. While the city claims it is protecting industrial companies and, in turn, blue collar jobs, the concentration of industry in South Seattle means a much greater percent of air and water pollution in the area.

[The Inlander]: Apparently news takes a while to get over the mountains because Spokane still seems to think they are immune from the housing slump.

[Boise Weekly]: A nice little preview of 2008 Idaho politics.

[Monday Magazine]: Some Langford residents are upset by a loan taken out by the city from the Province of BC for nearly $25 million to fund a new overpass. Citizens claim that the overpass will only cater to specific upper-class developments, namely Bear Mountain, Totangi Forestry, and Goldstream Heights. Further, people are questioning the city's bylaws which allowed the decision without any public meetings. Activists hope to get enough citizens on board to block the loan and the overpass.

[The Georgia Straight]: Does BC save enough agricultural land? Provincers weigh in.

[Anchorage Press]: A few Anchorage residents are lobbying to get Alaska a law school. Currently it is the only state in the Union without this higher educational facility. As Alaskan oil interest is on the increase, Wally Hickel and Craig Agliatti feel that Alaskans need to be more educated about their state's legal rights, environmental issues, and concerns about native peoples.

Ramblin' by Rail

Trains came to Cascadia in the mid-1800's with the first real rail company, Oregon Steam Navigation, beginning in 1861. Throughout the rest of the century railroad barons held huge sway in the Northwest as their decisions could literally make or break a city. This was evident in the later 1800's as Tacoma and Seattle battled who would become the final leg of a short line from Portland that connected them to the transcontinental railroad. After the advent of automobiles trains fell out of favor since they could not provide the freedom of personal transportation. Many railroad companies went out of business and abandoned their rails leaving them to rust in their place (Many were later turned into walking trails, such as Bellingham's Alabama Creek Trail and Seattle's Burke-Gilman). Well, this morning I took the train from Seattle to Bellingham and I believe its time that we bring rail travel back, bigger and better.

Riding the train Northbound from Seattle is a truly relaxing experience. As historical happenstance would have it (or perhaps the fact that locomotives were invented over a century before automobiles) the existing rail lines have by far and away some of the best right-of-ways in all of Cascadia. Unlike I-5 which runs from strip mall to strip mall, the train runs almost directly along the Puget Coast, allowing unhindered views of the San Juans and Olympic Mountains. As the train chugs past Everett it heads inland, meanerding along the Snohomish River and then dropping into the farmlands of the Skagit Valley. Surprise relics pop up along the route as well, such as an old beached tugboat just north of Edmonds or a colorful Welcome to Mt. Vernon sign, tucked under an old 99 bridge.

Of course, the train isn't perfect. The typical journey by rail can take up to almost twice the time of driving and the price is not yet competitive to a car (unless those gas prices keep up their trend). Talking to some fellow Cascadian Independents we decided that Cascadia really needs to take rail travel seriously. Geographically it makes sense as we are much longer North-South, than East-West. As well, demographically, we are almost entirely concentrated on the already existing I-5 corridor, which railways already run the length. By putting in a high speed train, such as the Eurostar connecting London and Paris, we could have service from Vancouver to Portland in under three hours! And this isn't like 3 hours to an airport where you then have to wait for your baggage, wait for a shuttle or taxi, and then spend 15 to 20 minutes driving into town, this is literally downtown to downtown.

Plus, you get the benefits of being eco-friendly. In a recent press release from Eurostar it was approximated that traveling by train emits roughly 10 times less carbon dioxide per passenger than traveling by airplane. Not to mention that high speed trains run on electricity, and thus have the ability to come from renewable sources, opposed to burning jet fuel.

Well, as it turns out my friends and I weren't the only ones to realize how brilliant train travel would be in Cascadia. The Cascadia Center, a project started through the Discovery Institute, has been trying to increase efficiency in regional transportation since 1993. Although the Discovery Institute is continuously harassed (rightly) for their promotion of Intelligent Design, the Cascadia Center has actually worked hard on a few important transportation projects in the past, such as helping negotiate a second train between Vancouver and Seattle. Sure, they aren't always right and they haven't yet promoted a high speed train, but at least the ideas are out there.

So what can the average Cascadian do to help promote better train travel? Well, check out the Cascadia Center's webpage and send them a letter showing your interest for high speed rail. The classic letter's to your congressmen and women is also always good. But most of all get out their and ride the rails! Trains are expensive and there will never be financial support if there isn't any consumer support. So pick a destination, charge up your ipod, and go enjoy the Cascadian landscape from the big windows of the old steel pony.

Pictures:
Seattle's King Street Station painted by J. Craig Thorpe
Portland's Union Station courtesy of Wikipedia
Vancouver's Pacific Central Station courtesy of Wikipedia

Cascadia in Sports

At the request of a fellow Cascadian living in Virginia Beach, Va I have decided to look at how Cascadia has been utilized in sports. I also feel that since the only Cascadian NFL team sucked it up pretty horribly in the playoffs yesterday, losing to Green Bay, we could use a little sports bolstering. So lets begin:


There are a number of teams who use the Cascadian name but the oldest has to be the Cascadians' hiking and climbing club based in Yakima, Wa. The group was founded in 1920 with 104 members and has been the eastside equivalent of the Seattle-based Mountaineers by popularizing snowshoeing, tobogganing, and skiing for all the outdoor lovers on the eastern slopes. They are currently involved in numerous trail restoration projects throught the Pacific Northwest and play, "an important role in the designation of Forest Service Wilderness Areas".

Another Cascadian team is the Zabinski Racing-Team Cascadia. Although I believe the team ceased after 2001, it was the only West Coast based American LeMans sport racing team. The team was headed by 5 time champion Ed Zabinski and their best overall finish was 4th place in the Sebring competition in 1998.

While maybe not a traditional "sport" (but just as fierce!) is the World Crossword Puzzle Championships. Yes that's right, Cascadian brains teamed up to create a team for this hard fought competition. Their results are here. (If anyone has any ideas on how to make sense of these scores, let me know, thanks.)

There are also a few competitions named in honor of our great region. The most prominent is the Cascadia Cup. This is a season long competition between the three Cascadian First Division Soccer Clubs: the Portland Timbers, the Seattle Sounders, and the Vancouver Whitecaps. Started in 2004 it has been won twice by Vancouver and twice by Seattle (maybe next year Portland).

In 2007 another Cascadia Cup was established in Bellingham, Washington. The competition, hosted by local biking club, Worms, involved nine events and had a premier showing of 35 bikers. They intend to make this a yearly event.

And finally, what Cascadian sports summary could be complete without mentioning the wonderful Cascadian Bike Porn Tour. This group of Porn/Bike Enthusiasts rode from PDX to Van City showing the world the wonders of bicycle porn. Their slogan: "We Intend to Offend". Sigh, only in Cascadia I guess.

Well, unfortunately that about sums it up for Cascadia in the sports world. Perhaps in the future we can get some more teams named after our unqiue region. If you know of a team out there, pee-wee soccer to club water polo, please post a comment and let us know about our Cascadian warriors.

Cascadian Myspace

Thats right, Cascadia has joined the rest of the 13-25 year olds and gotten itself a myspace page. The offical page name is the Cascadian Independence Project (CIP) and was put up by Brandon Letsinger in 2005 as a way to promote his political movement. There was a wonderful article about the CIP in a 2006 edition of the Eugene Weekly, I highly recommend you check it out. The offical CIP site is www.cascadianow.org. (Editor's Note: The site is currently down and under repair) If you are a current a myspace user I suggest you befriend this group ASAP!

Most Livable City

A Post to make Seattlites jealous.




Courtesy of NYC's StreetFilms. (If you have the time, check out the feature on Ciclovia, in Bogota. Probably one of the most creative intiatives any city has ever taken.)

Billionaires make Crappy Vids too

You just gotta love local multi-billionaires who makes goofy ameteurish (aside from the ridiculous amount of celeb cameos) videos like these.