City officials will soon have to break the news to some Seattle businesses and organizations that they will be neighbor to a city jail in 2012.

It’s not a fun job, but some would say that’s why they’re making the big bucks.

It’s not really their fault though. The number of people in jail on a Seattle misdemeanor has actually gone down 38 percent from 1996 through last year, thanks in part to alternative sentencing and monitoring programs.

But the county, which has been housing misdemeanor offenders for cities including Seattle, is running out of room and plans to discontinue the practice in 2012.

That doesn’t give the city much time to drag its heels over the site.

They fired a warning shot this week, announcing four potential candidates, picked from an initial list of 35. The city said they needed at least seven acres, easy access to arterials and had to be outside residential areas.

They also looked at other factors including access to public transportation, environmental conditions and geotechnical conditions. I’m sure it’s no coincidence the sites are spread across the city.

City officials said sites could be cut or added after a series of public meetings next month. They need to have a site set by early next year in order to make tight design and construction timelines to get the jail built by 2012.

Which do you think they’ll pick?

• 11762 Aurora Ave. N., on land that is now a Puetz Golf driving range and shop

• 1600 W. Armory Way in Interbay, site of the former Northwest Center for the Retarded that was acquired for the monorail

• A site at the corner of Highland Park Way Southwest and West Marginal Way that is jointly owned by the city, the state and private industry

• 9501 Myers Way South, on a vacant lot owned by the city.

My grandmother tells me that the streetcars that criss-crossed Seattle when she was young had wicker seats and cost a nickel. They were everywhere, they were fast and they were used by everyone.

Times have certainly changed. Say what you will about the vices and virtues of streetcars, the reality is they’re not cheap.

SDOTs pricy rail plans

SDOT presented a $595 million four-line streetcar network plan to Seattle City Council members Tuesday. The four lines they propose would connect a dozen central and northern neighborhoods for about $40 million a mile.

Some council members questioned the mode of transit. Buses are cheaper, more maneuverable and we’ve been investing in them for forty years, said council member Tom Rasmussen. There’s also the more affordable electric trolleys (pretty much buses) as an option, Rasmussen said.

Others questioned the duplication between the lines and existing and proposed Metro routes.

SDOT said the streetcars will make some of those bus routes obsolete, like the No. 70 in the U District, and will also fill some service gaps, like between downtown Ballard and downtown Fremont. (I guess the No. 28 bus doesn’t count because it doesn’t go deep into Ballard?)

Another benefit: Streetcar money stays in Seattle, unlike Metro dollars and service, which are distributed throughout the county.

Also, people are more likely to ride the streetcar than the bus, they say. They certainly used to, and they have taken it up in most cities that put one in (or put one back in, sigh).

I thought tons of people were riding the bus until I got a reality check a few weeks ago. The Dalai Lama was here and my bus was full to the gills still 30 minutes from downtown. It passed hundreds of riders on the way into town, people who live on the bus line and just don’t take it for whatever reason most days.

My grandmother remembers when it was assumed you would take the streetcar everywhere in Seattle. I wish we were debating how to update those old lines and not trying to figure out whether to pay for these new ones.

The neighborhood named after the first covered shopping center is coming out from under Northgate Mall’s shadow.

A draft environmental impact statement released last week looks into up-zoning parts of Northgate to allow buildings of up to 125 feet. The areas proposed for rezoning are now zoned for up to 65 feet with some nearby areas up to 85 feet.

More than a mall, soon

But city planners say the up-zone is needed to help the city reach density targets for Northgate, one of six Urban Centers earmarked for more growth as the city’s population climbs.

The EIS looks at a 98-acre portion of Northgate south of the Pinehurst neighborhood. It also explores a more targeted rezone of corridors around the north end of the mall and around the new city park planned at Fifth Avenue Northeast and Northeast 112th Street near Target.

The broad version looks at raising building heights to up to 125 feet, and the targeted version proposed maximums of 85 feet. Most of the area now has a height limit of 65 feet. (A portion west of the freeway is zoned to 85 feet but is not proposed for up-zoning.)

The study also discusses incentive zoning to let developers build bigger if they include more affordable housing or pay into affordable housing funds, and possibly for including more open space.

(more…)

The neighborhood named after the first covered shopping center is coming out from under Northgate Mall’s shadow.

A draft environmental impact statement released last week looks into up-zoning parts of Northgate to allow buildings of up to 125 feet. The areas proposed for rezoning are now zoned for up to 65 feet with some nearby areas up to 85 feet.

The city already raised heights and has invested money to help stimulate development in Northgate. Some growth regulation has been cut and a new library, community center and the coming park have spurred private development interest over the past few years.

But city planners say the up-zone is needed to help the city reach density targets for Northgate, one of six Urban Centers earmarked for more growth as the city’s population climbs.

The EIS looks at a 98-acre portion of Northgate south of the Pinehurst neighborhood. It also explores a more targeted rezone of corridors around the north end of the mall and around the new city park planned at Fifth Avenue Northeast and Northeast 112th Street near Target.

The broad version looks at raising building heights to up to 125 feet, and the targeted version proposed maximums of 85 feet. Most of the area now has a height limit of 65 feet. (A portion west of the freeway is zoned to 85 feet but is not proposed for up-zoning.)

The study also discusses incentive zoning to let developers build bigger if they include more affordable housing or pay into affordable housing funds, and possibly for including more open space.

(more…)

I attended a City Club forum Wednesday where two economic experts said that Seattle should be able to brave the coming recession– er, downturn– better than most.

Judith Runstad, a lawyer with Foster Pepper and former chairman of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, said that’s because of the strength of our high-tech sector and our cutting-edge health care industry.

Runstad

She said city and state management policies have also helped prevent the kind of overbuilding that has the glutted California real estate market, weighted down by foreclosures, in a constant nose-dive.

Phillips

Kevin Phillips, writer, commentator and former Republican Party strategist, said we can thank our geographic position that puts us close to Asia, the coming world power center.

He also said the city should be grateful for its lack of ties to the beleagured financial sector, a relationship that will take its toll on cities like San Francisco.

Still, it could get scary, even for we lucky ones.

Phillips is the author of “Bad money: Reckless finance, failed politics and the global crisis of American capitalism.” (Sounds like a great children’s bed-time book, doesn’t it?) He said the U.S. has made some bad decisions such as over-reliance on the financial sector as a driving industry while letting the manufacturing industry go, and by piling up an enormous amount of debt.

Add to that plummeting housing prices, commodities inflation and oil prices further dragging down the faltering dollar, and “it is striking in how many things are circling us,” he said.

“We don’t know what this is, but the probability is that this is the first downturn of the next economic era,” Phillips said. “This is much more than just some normal recession.”

To really get out of this trouble, Phillips said the country needs “smarter leadership” in the White House, a comprehensive energy policy and some distance from the financial sector.

“People who just worship the free market, you can’t plan on something like that,” Phillips said. “I think it’s time for something that will restore a little balance, like value engineering.”