the seattle freeze

matt pointed me at a really interesting article in The Seattle Times: Pacific Northwest Magazine. I don’t think the behaviour they describe is unique to Seattle. But the dichotomy most fundamental to our collective civic character is this: Polite but distant. Have a nice day. Somewhere else. “People here don’t ever just hang out — …

SCOTUS blows eminent domain decision

The US supreme court said your city can give your land to developers. In her scathing dissent, O’Connor wrote: Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power …