Culture: Opposing Transit

BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON - Walking around this mostly-affluent suburb of Seattle today, I was surprised to see a substantial number of "No Trains in Our Neighborhoods" signs. What was especially strange was that many of these signs were located more than a fifteen minute walk away from the closest proposed light rail alignment. I can understand some opposition to light rail, but the flavor in Bellevue is really hard to explain.

Sound Transit plans to build the East Link light rail line from the current north-south Central Link near downtown Seattle to Bellevue and Overlake. Based on the timetable voted for by the public in November 2008, construction would begin in 2013 and the first segment of the line to Bellevue would open by 2020. One of the first steps in the planning process was to determine the design and alignment of the line.

The alignment preferred by Sound Transit would stop at South Bellevue Park and Ride and then head north roughly along Bellevue Way and 112th Ave SE to downtown Bellevue. As urban rapid transit systems go, the route has relatively low residential density. However, it's still higher than an alternate alignment (B7) that would avoid South Bellevue Park and Ride, head east to I-405, and then north along the currently-dormant railway right-of-way toward downtown Bellevue. While it could serve a Wilburton Park and Ride lot, there are almost no residences within walking distance of stop(s) on that route, and it adds trip time over the preferred alternative.

The opposition to the preferred alignment comes from an anticipated decline in property values as a result of the line construction, because of increased noise and crime. As far as I know, such a decline in property value has never occurred after the construction of a modern transit line. Instead, property always increases in value, especially near the station locations. I haven't seen statistics yet, but I would be pretty surprised if crime rates have increased in the Rainier Valley or near the Tukwila station as the result of the arrival of light rail. As a result of gentrification (driven by the rise in property values), it would actually be expected to go down. Beyond these arguments, it starts to get really absurd, like an actual web site comment claiming that light rail advocates did not understand the damage that would be done by taking the space for two tennis courts away from the Bellevue Club (an institution whose membership rates are so high they don't release the rates publicly).

Even if any of these fears were justified, they only would affect residents within at most a radius of a few blocks of the tracks, if that. The anti-light rail signs appear throughout essentially all of the South Bellevue, including households a substantial distance from the preferred alignment. There's no way a house along 108th Ave SE south of Bellevue is going to be affected by a light rail line running on an elevated right-of-way more than a block and a steep hill away, more than a half-mile away from the nearest station.

There are some reasons to oppose transit systems. The arguments being observed in southern Bellevue have to be amongst the most pathetic I have ever observed.

Transport: The Loss of the Lacey V. Murrow

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States, but twenty years ago, 25-November fell on a Sunday, and it was quite an interesting day. From my 25-November-1990 Highlight report:

When it was opened in 1940, the Lacey V. Murrow floating bridge was the longest floating bridge in the world. It served well as US 10 and temporary I-90 until the new, third Lake Washington floating bridge opened parallel to the old bridge last year. The classic old span began to be renovated, with some of the work, including the eastern approach and part of the decking completed by the beginning of the Thanksgiving work break.

However, when workers arrived to check on the bridge this morning, they found one of the middle pontoons rapidly taking on water and sinking. They immediately went to shore for safety, and as they called in help, a loud cracking noise was heard. The bridge broke in two, with a middle pontoon immediately sinking. The western section broke away from the approach and began drifting southward. The eastern section remained attached to shore, but continued to take on water.

By this time, the local media had arrived on the scene, and live coverage of the disaster soon reached the airwaves. Another pontoon began to lean downward and bubble. Water come over the roadway, and then the section tipped downward, causing a construction crane to topple into Lake Washington. The pontoon soon followed in turning over and sinking, sending up circular bubbles on the way down.

A few more pontoons went down in such dramatic fashion before the remainder of the bridge stabilized. A tugboat was called to drag the drifting section and hold it against the shore. At the end of the eastern section, the last pontoon hung facing downward, threatening to break off and sink.

Meanwhile, the new bridge was shut down as a precautionary measure and it will remain closed tomorrow morning which will certainly cause a traffic jam the likes of which have never been seen in the Seattle area. Once the new bridge is confirmed safe, the investigation into what happened to the old bridge this morning can begin.

It turned out that the sinking pontoons had snapped some of the cables attaching the new bridge to its southern anchors, meaning that there was stress on the bridge from the still-tensioned northern anchors, threatening to break that bridge apart as well, though it was not in danger of sinking. A fleet of tugboats and other heavy watercraft were recruited to pull on the old bridge until new anchors could be attached.

The old bridge had been undergoing hydro-demolition, the process of using pressurized water to break apart the concrete surfaces that were to be removed. If that doesn't sound ill-advised enough on a floating bridge, the waste water from the process was being stored inside the pontoons, and some of the water-tight barriers had been removed to facilitate this practice. The significant storm that hit around the Thanksgiving holiday was enough to combine with these factors to sink the fifty year-old bridge.

As the parallel Homer M. Hadley Bridge had just been recently designed and completed, it was a comparatively simple process to adapt the plans for that five-lane bridge to the replacement three-lane Lacey V. Murrow Bridge, which was constructed on a somewhat expedited schedule and opened in 1993--with the insurance company of the contractor on the original bridge's refurbishing paying a good portion of the bill.

Now, the 1990's-era bridges are a fixture between Seattle and Mercer Island, and the only controversy surrounds whether to install light rail tracks on the Homer M. Hadley Bridge.

Photos: Western Washington

The interior of Union Station in Seattle, Washington, now mostly Sound Transit headquarters, was observed on 11-June-2010

TORONTO, ONTARIO - This week's update to my photo site concludes coverage of a trip to the Pacific Northwest in June 2010 with a focus on western Washington state. New scenes this week include air travel, downtown Seattle, Discovery Park in Seattle, an elementary school reunion, wildlife in parks, downtown Bellevue, and visits with family in Bellevue and Hamilton, Washington.

Culture: Webbing Between Toes

BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON - I often say that the Pacific Northwest is the nicest place in the world--on the 50 days of year that the Olympic and Cascade mountain ranges are visible. The problem is the other 300 days or so, when it's raining or thinking about raining. I may not be quantitatively accurate, but if you've ever lived in the Pacific Northwest, you understand the sentiment. When I was in the Seattle area in late 2005 and early 2006, I lived through 40 straight days of precipitation. Anywhere else, it would have been considered Biblical. Here, it was just a little longer streak than normal--and mild in many ways, since at least it wasn't snowing.

For native Pacific Northwesterners, plain gray and rainy weather in the winter doesn't get much attention unless it's a record streak or big storm; it's to be expected. When it doesn't go away in the spring or even in the summer, then it becomes tiresome. Most television meteorologists here joke that summer doesn't start until July 12th. The audience doesn't laugh; it plans a trip to Hawaii as soon as school is out.

In this context, 2010 has been even worse than normal. Down south in Portland, Oregon, it has been the wettest June in history, and not by a trivial margin. On June 16th, the total precipitation in Portland had reached 4.24 inches since the beginning of the month. The previous wettest June in Portland took place in 1984, when 4.06 inches fell the entire month. One meteorologist described it as "truly amazing." Most people I talked to in Portland last Sunday called it truly depressing. In fact, everyone I interacted with spoke about lack of motivation to do anything--and the record-setting month wasn't over yet. It rained during my visit.

Meanwhile, Seattle finally ended another streak. Today, after 272 days of cooler temperatures, the mercury finally reached 75 degrees Fahrenheit here (that's 24 C). That's a long time to wait for a hot day, even in Seattle. The previous record had been 254 days, set in 1999 and 2000. Suddenly, people here were in a very good mood. No statistics are available, but the very Seattle phenomenon of calling in sick on the first sunny day was taking place in full force.

I guess summer came before July 12th after all--but not before the Pacific Northwest gave its residents another spring of growing webbing between their toes. (The Ducks aren't the mascot of the University of Oregon for nothing.) After all, as the common joke goes, in the Pacific Northwest, we don't tan, we rust.

Politics: The "Top Two" Primary

KENNEWICK, WASHINGTON - While the talking heads in the mainstream media have focused on the victories of principally self-financed, conservative female candidates in last week's California primary, those looking at the longer-term have pointed out that the most significant result from that election may have been the passage of Proposition 14. I've long been in the chorus that has pointed out the extreme polarization of politics in the Golden State, though I've stopped short of calling it "ungovernable." Proposition 14, by establishing a "top-two" primary, is the first significant step passed by the voters to try to address that polarization, though the experience in this state, Washington, which has had a "top-two" primary for about a year, indicates it might not help very much.

Both Proposition 14 and a similar measure passed by the voters of Washington state have thrown out the party-based primary system. Traditionally, the primary election has served as a public nominating system for each political party. Exactly one Democrat, exactly one Republican, and a single representative of each smaller political party (if they fielded a candidate at all) would move on from the primary to the general election. Under the "top two" primary (which some have called a "jungle" primary), only the two highest vote-getting candidates move on to the general election, regardless of party. Those two candidates might be two Democrats, two Republicans, or even two independents. The parties--especially the smaller parties, which are no longer guaranteed a general election ballot line--hate this system, as it moves control of the process out of the parties and directly to the public. As a result, proponents of the "top two" system say it will result in more moderate, broadly-acceptable candidates appearing as choices for voters in the general election, instead of extreme candidates favored by party activists.

The "top two" primary came to be in Washington state not because of extreme polarization, as Washington (at least for statewide races) had a history of fairly moderate politicians by national standards. It instead came about because the long-standing "open" primary, in which voters could vote for any candidate in the primary regardless of party, had been abolished in favor of a "closed" primary in which voters had to declare their party affiliation and take a ballot with only the candidates from that party. The parties had pushed for the "closed" system on the basis of preventing the "distortion" which took place when only one major party had a primary race, and voters from the other party would vote for the candidate in the contested race they perceived to be the weakest in the general election. This was a relatively rare situation, and voters instead viewed the new system as decreasing their choices. The "top two" primary passed handily as a result, and has since been upheld by the US Supreme Court.

Yet, despite the new rules, there have yet to be any races in Washington in which the "top two" system has clearly changed the results. One Democrat and one Republican still have appeared on the general election ballot. Those candidates haven't been noticeably more moderate in their ideology, or ones clearly not favored by their parties. In contrast, states that have implemented "clean elections" reforms involving public matching funds, most notably Maine, have seen clear effects.

Because of its history of "open" primaries and relative lack of polarization, Washington may not be indicative of how the "top two" primary will play out in California. However, I daresay the result was most significant in its symbolism, that the voters protested the polarized system by voting for Proposition 14. If they had really wanted significant change, they would have needed to vote for campaign finance reform.

Photos: Seattle, Washington

A Sound Transit Central Link light rail vehicle passed the tower at Sea-Tac Airport heading for its terminus at the airport on 23-December-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - This week's update to my photo site is part three of my trip to the west coast. Scenes from a visit to the Seattle, Washington area between 15-December and 25-December-2009 included a ride on the new Central Link light rail to Sea-Tac Airport, other transportation infrastructure and various scenery including mountains and Bellefields Nature Preserve in Bellevue, Washington.

Photos: Holiday Scenes in the Northwest, 2009

The fountain scene at the Garden D'Lights in Bellevue, Washington was captured on 22-December-2009

KENNEWICK, WASHINGTON - This week's update to my photo site features a roundup of Pacific Northwest holiday displays. Holiday scenes from around the Seattle, Washington area seen on 22-23-December-2009 included Bellevue's Garden D'Lights, Seattle's Gingerbread Village, Seattle's Toyland Village, and more.

Politics: The Novelty Candidate

TORONTO, ONTARIO - Today was election day in Washington state's King County. For the first time in that county, however, no polls were open. The county has joined the growing movement of having all ballots sent out and returned in surface mail. King County residents who just realized that they didn't mail their ballot are out of luck--a handful of collection centers have already closed for the evening, and it's too late to get the ballot postmarked on 18-August-2009 (or earlier).

A primary election in Washington state's relatively-new "top two" system in which the top two candidates, regardless of party affiliation, move on to the general election, today's ballot included a slate of candidates for King County Executive, the top office in the county vacated by Ron Sims' move to the Federal Department of Housing and Urban Development. Among those candidates was "Goodspaceguy."

Seriously, "Goodspaceguy" was on the ballot, and not for the first time. He had run for the Senate previously, as Michael Goodspaceguy Nelson, in 2006 (see the voter guide). What's "Goodspaceguy" all about? In his own words:

Let’s spread the life of Spaceship Earth out into our Solar System! With help from NASA, let’s start the seeds of several small and growing orbital space colonies in orbit around Earth, around the Moon, and around Mars...Also, we should replace war on our Spaceship Earth with world-wide free trade.

There's more, but the theme is clear, and exactly how he could accomplish that as King County Executive is especially unclear.

"Goodspaceguy" is hardly the first novelty candidate. For my entire voting career, "Mike the Mover" has been on the ballot for one race or another. The former Michael Shanks was trying to promote his moving business by running for office according to an article in the Seattle Times back in 2004. He ran in at least eighteen elections, always with a great tag line--"I'll send {the incumbent} packing."

Unfortunately, with an open ballot, it hard to keep such people off the ballot if they legally change their names. One cost of democracy seems to be perennial candidates (think Lyndon LaRouche or Pat Paulsen), "straw men candidates" run simply as a tactical move by parties, and the novelty candidates. I suppose if their presence in the race generates interest in the serious candidates, they can even be a net positive.

Rest assured, though, that while I generally don't reveal who I voted for, I will say that I've never voted for a novelty candidate.

Transport: Bicycling in the Heat

TORONTO, ONTARIO - The temperature at Sea-Tac Airport near Seattle, Washington reached 103 degrees Fahrenheit (39 degrees Celsius) today, the highest recorded temperature in the history of the weather station, which became the location of record for Seattle in 1945. When I was growing up in that area, the highest temperature ever recorded was just 99 degrees.

One of the days on which 99 degrees was reached was 23-June-1992, which I remember specifically because it was the day before my family departed on a California vacation. On that day, I chose to say goodbye to some friends, traveling by bicycle. First on my agenda was to talk to the crew of the local freight train that passed through town. Wanting to get an early start, I bicycled ten miles to downtown Renton, Washington and met the train there--which was a good thing, since on that day they didn't come north to my home town. A railroad strike was set to begin the next day, and I wanted to get their take on the situation.

When the train went to switch the Boeing aircraft plant in Renton, I set out on a twelve mile bicycle ride up to Clyde Hill, Washington to check in with a friend. The temperature likely wasn't 99 quite yet, but there were a number of hills on any reasonable route northbound from Renton, and my water bottle was long-since empty, refilled at a public fountain, and empty again by the time I arrived at my destination. By the time I headed home on a final three-and-a-half mile leg, the heat was out in full force and I wonder in retrospect how I made it.

The key to bicycling in the heat, of course, is drinking water along the way. Planning a route with public fountains to refill one's water bottle, and taking as many water bottles as possible are keys to keeping going. Having rags that can be dipped in water and wrapped around one's head can also be of significant value.

In coverage of this week's Seattle heat wave on local public radio station KUOW, it was mentioned to also "spray water on one's head--that's what the vents in your helmet are for." Personally, I always thought the vents were for general ventilation, so this comment was a bit of a surprise to me. On my day of bicycling in the extreme heat, I don't recall splashing water through my helmet--I guess I wasn't as prepared as I thought I was on that day.

After living in Boston, where the streets are substantially more unsafe for bicycles and the weather precludes bicycling for up to three months a year, I abandoned bicycling in favor of walking and public transit. On 35 degree days and warmer, riding in air conditioned transit vehicles, that decision seems pretty sound.

Photos: Trip to the West Coast, Part III

The Interstate Bridge carrying I-5 between the states of Washington and Oregon framed Mount Hood as viewed from an Amtrak train on 16-May-2009

TORONTO, ONTARIO - This week's update to my photo site finishes coverage of my spring trip to the west coast of the United States. The final portion of my trip was spent in the states of Oregon and Washington from 8-May to 17-May-2009. Most of the time was spent visiting my eastern Washington Gleich relatives in Kennewick and Yakima, Washington, and western Washington McGrady relatives in Bellevue, Washington, but time was also spent hiking around Bend, Oregon and Wallula, Washington, and a fast trip was taken to Portland, Oregon to work on a diesel locomotive.

Photos: Pacific Northwest 2005 from the Archives

Union Pacific's "Challenger" #3985 crested the Cascade Mountains at Cascade Summit, Oregon on 7-September-2005

TORONTO, ONTARIO - For this week's update to my photo site, I have gone into the archives to present previously-undisplayed pictures from 2005.

With Union Pacific announcing that it will send a steam locomotive west for the 140th anniversary of the Golden Spike this spring, it seemed a good time to go back to the archives for my favorite chase of a Union Pacific steam locomotive, the "Challenger"'s first trip over the former Southern Pacific between Klamath Falls and Portland, Oregon in September 2005.

The same trip also involved visiting family and friends around Seattle, Washington including visits to the Woodland Park Zoo and Ballard Locks and a ride on Amtrak between Seattle, Washington, and Portland, Oregon.

Photos: Art Deco Seattle

The Exchange Building in Seattle, Washington showed its 1930 Art Deco lines on 27-December-2008

TORONTO, ONTARIO - This week's update to my photo site focuses on architecture in downtown Seattle, Washington. On 27-December-2008, the Seattle Architecture Foundation held a tour focusing on Art Deco Seattle. Highlights included the Northern Life Tower, the Exchange Building, the Federal Office Building, and the 1411 Fourth Avenue Building, but notable non Art Deco structures along the way like the Rainier Tower and the Cobb Building were also included.

Photos: Trip to the West Coast, Part II

TORONTO, ONTARIO - This week's update to my photo site continues coverage of my winter vacation.

The second portion of a trip to the West Coast of the United States between 24-December-2008 and 3-January-2009 included McGrady family gatherings for the holidays in Bellevue and Kirkland, Washington, a visit with my grandparents in Kennewick, Washington, and winter scenes in Seattle, Bellevue, and Kennewick, Washington.

Photos: Trip to the West Coast, Part I

A pair of snowmen were noted near Enatai Elementary School in Bellevue, Washington on 23-December-2008

TORONTO, ONTARIO - This week's update to my photo site features scenes from the west coast of the United States.

The first portion of a trip to the west coast for the holidays included a ride on the Altamont Commuter Express through the Niles Canyon and over Altamont Pass from San Jose to Stockton, California, a walk around Stockton, a visit to my great aunt Pauline near Placerville, California, a visit to my cousin Bruce Carson, Julie Malloy, and their children in the Phoenix, Arizona suburbs, and a look around Bellevue, Washington under a thick covering of snow between 17- and 23-December-2008.

Photos: West Coast Holiday Scenes

TORONTO, ONTARIO - This week's update to my photo site features holiday displays in Arizona and Washington state in December 2008. The displays included the Arizona Temple in Mesa, Arizona; the Toyland Display in Seattle, Washington; Gingerbread Village at the Seattle Sheraton; Celebration Lane in Bellevue, Washington; and the Garden d'Light in Bellevue, Washington.

Transport: Blame it on Lawyers

TORONTO, ONTARIO - During my trip over the holidays, not a single leg occurred as scheduled. Every single air leg was re-scheduled or canceled as a result of winter weather or general airline incompetence. A road trip to visit my grandparents took much longer than it normally would have because all the mountain passes were closed, necessitating a detour through the Columbia River gorge for the second straight year. Even my warm-weather leg from Sunnyvale to Placerville, California was subject to delays--my bus from Stockton to Sacramento was held for a late connecting train, which itself had been held in Bakersfield for a late bus from Los Angeles.

The transportation meltdown has been especially pronounced this season in the Pacific Northwest. A series of snowstorms battered Washington and surrounding states for the second half of December, resulting in many of the delays that I experienced, and now that everything is melting, flooding has caused an even wider paralysis--until just a few hours ago, Interstate 5 and the BNSF Railway had been closed between Seattle and Portland for several days. The only realistic way to get between those two cities was by air (and, for once this season, the airlines were operating normally), since the mountain passes were closed as well.

It seems a legitimate question why Interstate freeways--originally conceived as a part of a national defense system--should be so vulnerable to flooding. There are perpetual flooding candidate locations along I-5 in the Chehalis, Washington area where the lanes could be raised and flood culverts installed if it were chosen to spend the money to protect against these rare events (that seem to be not-so-rare as the years pass). In this time of fiscal stimulus, perhaps that kind of project can be made "shovel-ready" in time to capture some Federal dollars.

On the Amtrak side of the equation, the passenger carrier is at the mercy of the freight railroad that owns the line, which in Washington state means BNSF. For many years, the BNSF had a policy that after any weather-related incident which disrupted the track structure--usually a mudslide--the line affected could not have passenger trains operated on it until no further incident occurred for 48 hours. In other words, freight trains could operate for almost two days before another passenger train would be allowed, leaving passengers stranded. The policy has had an adverse impact not only on Amtrak but on the Sounder commuter trains that operate between Everett, Seattle, and Tacoma, Washington.

Clearly, if other trains are operating, then it would be physically possible to operate the passenger trains--in fact, it must be safe, or the railroad would not put its own train crews at risk. Even if the freight carrier is allowed to clear a backlog of profitable freight trains before running passenger trains again--an argument whose legitimacy could be argued when taxpayer dollars have been spent to upgrade the tracks to handle additional passenger trains--that rarely would take two days. Something else is causing the BNSF to not allow the passenger trains to operate.

It turns out that something is liability. If BNSF allows the operation of a passenger train and a weather-related accident occurs, then it is open to lawsuits, and their lawyers determined that the 48-hour policy was required to demonstrate commitment to a safe operating environment. Never mind the people that cannot get to work because their commuter train isn't operating for two days while the trains carrying their garbage to the landfill are running. At some points, the BNSF has claimed that it was a Federal Law as reported in this article (or maybe the reporter just made a mistake), but no such law seems to actually exist.

There are plenty of other reasons to be upset with trial lawyers. I am still amazed about the things that I was able to do in Australia on tourist railroads and even in public parks that would never be allowed in the United States because of the potential liability. Specialized doctors quit their practices because they can't afford the insurance, we can't swim while a boat race is occurring, fences have to be placed in unsightly locations to prevent people from entering property and injuring themselves ("no trespassing" signs are not enough), we can't run excursion trains unless covered by Amtrak's insurance policy, the list could go on for paragraphs. The fact that public transportation is being shut down when it is needed most--during times when other forms of travel may not be practical--is yet another reason that legal reforms are required in the United States.

The "California Zephyr" may never be trapped on Donner Pass the way the "City of San Francisco" was in January 1952 thanks to modern policies necessitated by liability concerns, but routine travel in the wake of seasonal weather will be impeded.

Margin Notes: Grungy Art Deco White Christmas

The scene in a Bellevue, Washington backyard as snowfall continued on a White Christmas, 25-December-2008

BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON - The rain and wind storm yesterday morning cleared the roads and caused most of the snow to disappear, but the Seattle area did see a rare White Christmas, as evidenced by the photo above. Arguably, this was the first "real" White Christmas of my lifetime in this area, as there was snow on the ground at dawn and snowfall during the course of the day; only one of those elements had been in place in any previous year.

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It was a Seattle Christmas, though. While wandering downtown Seattle last Saturday, a group of street artists near Westlake Center were noted performing Radiohead's "Creep". Where else but the grunge capitol of Seattle could someone sing "I'm a creep / I'm a weirdo" on the streets and not only avoid arrest but expect to earn money?

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"Nutcracker" by Randy Bollanger in Pacific Place was part of the Downtown Light Spectacular in Seattle, Washington on 27-December-2008

More conventional holiday entertainment came in the form of the Downtown Light Spectacular, a series of forty LED light displays depicting various toys. While most of the "Toyland Display Gallery" was dispersed outside throughout downtown Seattle, a few were inside including the "Nutcracker" which mixed in with a variety of Nutcracker figurines at the Pacific Place shopping mall.

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Seattle, Washington's 1930-era Exchange Building exemplified the Art Deco style on 27-December-2008

Also mixing the inside and outside was the reason for my visit downtown, a tour of Art Deco Seattle by the Seattle Architecture Foundation. Looking at such architectural gems as the Seattle Tower and the Exchange Building from both inside and out demonstrated how the ornate and vertical nature of Art Deco structures contrasted with the classical and international styles much more common in Seattle.

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One of the first buildings that comes to my mind when thinking of Art Deco is Palo Alto's railroad station, the public transit gateway to Stanford University. Holiday travel is the time I usually use to catch up on reading "Stanford" Magazine. Had I not read recent issues, I would not have known that Yankee pitcher Mike Mussina, Air America and MSNBC personality Rachel Maddow, and KUOW-Seattle producer Sage Van Wing all went to Stanford.

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For more detailed coverage of radio in 2008, Scott Fybush's well-known Northeast Radio Watch came out with its Year in Review this week. The highlight of Fybush's reviews, especially for those outside of his region of focus, is the Year-End Rant which often has significant insight into the state of the broadcasting industry. With the economic downturn, one might think this would be a pessimistic article this year, but Fybush has managed to insert some optimistic thoughts that are worth reading.

Holiday: Bellevue's Garden d'Lights

One of several large garden scenes at the Garden d'Lights in Bellevue, Washington on 27-December-2008

BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON - Back in 1994, the city of Bellevue's Botanical Garden was looking for a way to expand its attendance during the winter months. They decided to use some holiday lights to make a replica of some of the plants in the garden so that they could be seen after dark during the shortest days of the year. While a modest display that year, the Garden d'Lights has returned and gotten larger each year.


A frog was reflected in a pond in Bellevue's Botanical Gardens during the Garden d'Lights on 27-December-2008

The display has gotten so large now that it includes over 500,000 lights; some individual plant lights contain 15,000 LED's. Besides plants that exist in the garden and those that would not survive in a Pacific Northwest climate, there are now a variety of birds and other creatures across the gardens, even including a spider and the ultimate northwest garden icon, the slug. Classes are now held each spring and fall to train volunteers in how to make the displays, adding to the collection each year. About the only thing that is not found in fervently secular Bellevue are any signs of the holiday season at all, unless one counts a poinsettia as a holiday symbol.


The snow provided a special backdrop to the Garden d'Lights on 27-December-2008

An unexpected attraction of this year's display was about a foot of snowfall. The snow closed the event for about a week before Christmas Day, but it has now re-opened with the white background of the snow making for a very different feel than the normal annual display, providing another reason to attend besides seeing what has been added since last year.


The view from the educational center parking lot of just a portion of the Garden d'Lights on 27-December-2008

The Garden d'Lights is located near Main Street and 124th Ave NE in Bellevue, Washington with the lights on from 5 pm to 10 pm through Saturday, January 3rd. The event is free unless one chooses premium parking for $5; parking at the Bellevue School District Headquarters across the street for free is recommended as the lone crosswalk from that parking lot is guarded by a policeman.

Holiday: Bellevue's Celebration Lane

Two revelers on stilts passed out kazoos to the crowds at Bellevue, Washington's Celebration Lane on 27-December-2008

BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON - Since 2005, the Seattle suburb of Bellevue, Washington has been host to an interesting night-time holiday performance. At 7 pm sharp, a group of drummers has marched to a designated area along Bellevue Way near NE 8th Street to perform along with a set of classic holiday songs. Called Snowflake Lane, the event was put together by the "Bellevue Collection" of developer Kemper Freeman Junior which includes the well-known Bellevue Square as well as the Bellevue Place and Lincoln Square complexes and has run from the day after Thanksgiving to Christmas.


Soap-sud snow, rather than real snow, fell on Bellevue's Celebration Lane along Bellevue Way on 27-December-2008

Since 2006, the show has continued through New Year's Eve under the name "Celebration Lane," trading the traditional holiday songs in for a rock and roll retrospective of the history of Bellevue and New Year's themed music. Upon arrival along the sidewalk in Bellevue, Washington tonight, disposable kazoos were being passed out to foster the New Year's theme.


A drummer performed during the Celebration Lane show in Bellevue, Washington on 27-December-2008

This year's Celebration Lane performance featured Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" from the 1950's, the Beatles' "Twist and Shout" from the 1960's, the Jackson 5's "ABC" from the 1970's, Kenny Loggins' "Footloose" from the 1980's, Ricky Martin's "Living La Vida Loca" form the 1990's, and Pink's "Get This Party Started" from the last decade before transitioning to New Year's tunes.


Snowflakes were projected on the side of Crate and Barrel store during a patriotic moment of Celebration Lane on 27-December-2008

The Celebration Lane performances continue each evening at 7 pm through December 31st along Bellevue Way near NE 8th Street in downtown Bellevue.

Holiday: What Color is Your Christmas?

The Pacific Northwest was just two days from a white Christmas in this view from Bellevue across Lake Washington to Mercer Island on 23-December-2008

BELLEVUE, WASHINGTON - If you're Elvis Presley, then you have a Blue Christmas without your loved ones. Hollywood has brought us a Black Christmas at least twice in the past. In the Bush White House this year, it's a Red, White and Blue Christmas. There's even the vaguely racist Yellow Christmas. But, for the vast majority of the people celebrating the holiday, there are only two possible colors for the holiday--green and white.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, there have not been very many white Christmases. In my lifetime, I remember only two before this year--1996 and 2007, and both of those wouldn't meet an absolute standard of having a layer of snow on the ground on Christmas morning, but did see snowfall in the course of Christmas Day, a real storm in the case of 1996 and just a fleeting shower in 2007.

In a region surrounded by evergreen trees of multiple species, the inevitable color of Christmas in Seattle has been green. The single most iconic regional holiday song for the Pacific Northwest, Brenda White's "Christmas in the Northwest," includes the refrain that Christmas "is a gift God wrapped in green."

Of course, the color green is not the only thing that usually predominates a Seattle Christmas. The Pysht River Troubadours captured this well in their song "Let's Have a Seattle Christmas," containing the refrain: "For it doesn't just rain on Christmas, it's every day, every day, every day." I have few memories of outdoor activities on Christmas as a child, but that's not because it was too cold--it was because it was raining. Christmas is an indoor holiday here, which is just fine for visiting with family, eating a big meal, and exchanging gifts.

This year will be a white Christmas around Seattle by any standard, short of an overnight miracle that makes several inches of snow disappear. The biggest concern will be the ability of families to drive to gatherings, and whether electrical power will be maintained as it mostly has been throughout this storm season.

Statistically, tomorrow will be a rare event, so to everyone around the Pacific Northwest, enjoy the white Christmas, and to everyone else, enjoy the holiday, no matter what color it might be.