Saturday, August 28, 2010

RSA Animate - 21st century enlightenment



This and similarly thoughtful videos are found at .
For over 250 years the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) has been a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress.  Our approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action. Find out more...


Here is a thought:
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has."
Margret Mead.
US anthropologist & popularizer of anthropology (1901 - 1978)

While you are here, how about some music.

Monday, August 23, 2010

What's your hangup? Pew Research shows a decline in landline telephone use

Keep these numbers in mind when you hear about political polls as we head toward November elections. 26% of households do not have a landline, and are not likely represented in telephone surveys of "likely voters".

In the case of the landline phone, a rising thumbs-down verdict comes not just from the survey but also from the marketplace. According to a Pew Research Center analysis of government data, just 74% of U.S. households now have a landline phone.1 This is down from a peak of 97% in 2001.2
From the Pew Research report, The Fading Glory of the Television and Telephone

Well, who are they missing?
The latest estimates of telephone coverage, released last week by the National Center for Health Statistics, found that 25% of households (and 23% of adults) in the second half of 2009 had no landline service and only cell phone service (just 2% of households had no telephone service of any type). For certain subgroups in the population, the numbers are considerably higher: 30% of Hispanics are cell-only, as are 49% of adults ages 25-29.
From the Pew Research report, Assessing the Cell Phone Challenge

Wow, if you are hispanic and in your late 20's then it just looks like you are under represented in political surveys.
Before you start thinking this is an isolated situation, think again. The general trend is away from landlines.

(Pew Research, 2009)

Polls have a margin of error, depending on how many people are in the sample. The problem is that at some point very soon the polls will simply be wrong. You should anticipate getting a call on your cell phone in the near future. What the caller on the other end will not know is if you are standing in your home, or are driving down the road. The nature of the problem is that a perfectly reasonable landline activity will intrude in to your cellphone context, anywhere, placeless.
It will take years of society rule making to negotiate the right time/place involving a device whose killer app is its landline-ness-less.

It has taken a decade, or so, for a cell phone call to be an acceptable activity in some shared social spaces. Yakking on your phone at a fast-food restaurant when you are alone is pretty safe, unlike having your ringer going off in the middle of a movie theater during a movie.
Those calls are most likely you talking to somebody you know.

Now imagine it is a survey call on your cellphone.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

seattlesportsblog: Thunder in OKC Means Lightning In Seattle....

People talking about people talking about a new arena. This time it is the NHL playing in the Tacoma Dome until a new arena is built in Seattle.
A few days ago somebody wanted to talk to me about an arena in King County. A few weeks before that somebody else asked me questions. And, before that. . .

There are some constants in all of these exercises (none of these are facts, just obvious assumptions): Key Arena is dead; there isn't an actual location for the new arena; the NBA and NHL will occupy the building; the building will be completely privately funded (people forget the municipal infrastructure service to an arena, but that can all get offset by some user fee/parking tax); there is always an assumed owner; the City of Seattle and the State of Washington are assumed to be of little or no use; the market is too big to ignore; the fans are better people than any of the other parties involved.

With that I give you the Seattle Lightening (next time, make sure you take a few swings at Jeff Smulyan, thanks).

The fact Leiweke was chosen as the new head of operations in Tampa and given part ownership is not a coincidence, it’s due to behind the scenes work with many people in this area on Clay’s Funhouse and on the fact the ownership in Tampa especially Jeff Vinick (now the 6th ownership group in less than 20 years) is looking for a way out of the failed Sun Belt hockey experience. Leiweke has gotten buildings done in Minnesota and a handful of other towns. He has the knowledge and the friendships in Seattle to do the same.

The St. Pete Times Forum in Tampa is tied to Lightning ownership, that makes an escape clause a moot point….There isn’t one…Whoever owns the team can pack up anytime they choose to and (pardon the pun) bolt.

The building issue in Seattle isn’t the issue (right now), where the issue lies is with some behind the scenes dealings (trust me, there are talks going on as I type this) about how long a team would be stuck in the Tacoma Dome as a “temporary venue” …Personally, I think it’s “if they come, we will build it”…

Leiweke is our best friend right now when it comes to an arena sport, and we need to keep up the goodwill during his TEMPORARY stay in Tampa. Remember folks, you might not like hockey..That’s fine…But you think an NBA team wouldn’t follow closely behind a Seattle Lightning strike?

Things about about to heat up….Get those season ticket deposits ready because 2011 isn’t that far off and Tampa is about to feel karma kick it square in the ass….Tampa Bay Mariners? Psssssh….Seattle Lightning, my how times change….
Read the whole thing, here,
seattlesportsblog: Thunder in OKC Means Lightning In Seattle....: "Thunder in OKC, Lightning In Seattle? By: Anonymous Tod Leiweke is gone to Tampa.....As a Seahawks fan it registers somewhere between 'Hey!..."

Now, go buy a New Seattle Arena, 2014 bumpersticker right now.

Thursday, August 12, 2010

Are symphonies still 'too big to fail'? || Crosscut.com

This is strangely familiar.

Sounds like a broken business model, is this "dance halls for millionaires"?
The Sonics left, and things penciled out just fine. There are plenty things to do, and attraction in the area (fill in the rest of the anti-sports entertainment rant).
Let a private company blah, blah, blah.", and if they leave, they leave.
He [young French conductor Ludovic Morlot] is the Kevin Durant of maestros.
Well to-do people in luxury boxes and corporate ticket holders using the entertainment as a backdrop for their business dealings can find some other venue for that, we don't need (insert entertainment in a public building here).
I noticed that David Brewster did not mention how much public money we have pumped into our grand music hall, sort of skipped past that part.

Anyway, the Everett Symphony cut short/suspended much of its activity, many, many others are in a similar position.

I am sure somebody like Sherman Alexie (or, whatever the symphony equivolent is) would testify in federal court that the symphony is a cherished institution, and it would be disappointing for those that enjoy that form of entertainment. Still, it is much like other forms of entertainment that has had the benefit of public support in some way, but still fails as a business.

Having decades of joy go away would be sad, I can empathize. I know all of the arguments.

— Mr Baker
One of the interesting civic dramas in the next few years will be the effort to turn around the fortunes of the Seattle Symphony. I say "civic" drama, because the plight of these orchestras very much involves a city's reputation, particularly its ability to attract corporations and to serve as a symbol of a region's rising cultural reputation. Such orchestras are nearly always "too big to fail."
Are symphonies still 'too big to fail'? || Crosscut.com

Good luck with that argument.

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Seattle center site idea: New home for radio station KEXP | Seattle Times Newspaper

The right idea.
A second letter signed individually by Dave Matthews said, "KEXP's proposed location within Seattle Center would give residents and visitors at all economic levels access to live music, with in-studio sessions and performances in the Park's beautiful outdoor setting.

"It would also create tremendous educational opportunities, growing the city's next generation of artists through apprenticeships, master music classes, recording classes and more."

Also coming out Tuesday in support of KEXP's bid: Sub Pop Records co-founder Jonathan Poneman; Sasquatch! Music Festival promoter Adam Zacks; Alice in Chains manager Susan Silver; Seattle Theatre Group's Josh LaBelle; National Public Radio President and CEO Vivian Schiller; and University of Washington President Mark Emmert.

Music & nightlife | Seattle center site idea: New home for radio station KEXP | Seattle Times Newspaper

Music would bring that space to life, and draw a variety of people to Seattle Center.
I hope we do this, I would go with my family.

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Roger Valdez, Tunnel hater, is this week's Seattle upzone cheerleader

Roger Valdez has written an article over at Crosscut.com, "Tunnel debate is redefining Seattle politics", where he basically argues that the Alaska Way deep-bore tunnel opponents are some kind of coalition, or they could, or should be a "positive" coalition. I guess he has the vision thing.

There's a lot to debate about whether I have cast these protagonists appropriately. But it's hard to dispute that tunnel opposition has created some strange bedfellows. The problem with tunnel opposition is that it doesn’t necessarily form a coherent basis for a positive political movement. Opposition doesn't always make the most fertile ground for a for the seeds of positive change.

Imagine if environmentalists, preservationists, homeless advocates, and neighborhood density advocates turned their opposition of the tunnel into a positive movement. Could the anti-tunnel urge form a kind of opposition party against the seemingly dominant group that is pushing the tunnel? Are we ready for partisanship in Seattle or are we too nice? The question is, can tunnel opponents find common ground to move beyond the tunnel and, for example, elect a slate of new like-minded members of the city council next year, when there will be five seats up for grabs. Do they even want to?
, Tunnel debate is redefining Seattle politics, Crosscut.com

The answer is no, the tunnel opposition can not find common ground. There are the Dan Bertolet and the "Surface+HopethereisTransit" proponent group, and the rebuild/replacement Viaduct proponent group. They mainly agree in their opposition to the tunnel. It breaks up at that point. No matter how you (any of you) move the pieces around you will not end up with a majority of proponents.
The ONLY thing a majority of people will agree to is that they want something for nothing, or even the hint that it could cost them something (cost overruns).

Let's be completely unfair to Roger Valdez, I don't know him, don't care to, but he's an idiot.
What has been the most effective argument against the tunnel?
There could be cost overruns if the legislature passed another bill to put Seattle area tax payers on the hook. The bad news is that this is true of any option.

Where the "Friends" are really going is that we are about to commit tax capacity and bonding authority to something that does not directly benefit the upzone corridor (see map of West Side light rail, uh, well, there isn't a map, not a real one.
Mike McGinn is not interested in saving anybody money, get that straight, he wants to spend it where his benefactors want it.

Valdez, Bortolet, McGinn, Friends of Seattle, Party of the Future, Great City, Hugeasscity (now part of Publicola.net), this is a parliament of political whores. (no dishonorable mention of the Stranger's Dominic Holden, water carrier)

There isn't a majority of anything in Seattle, except in opposing any single replacement for the Alaska Way Viaduct, that's it.

In my opinion, and I've stated this other places, the answer may be most of the above:
I was a Surface proponent but that thing got wider and wider, and had all those stoplights, pedestrian friendly stoplight timing, that a bypass tunnel looked like a needed thing. In fact, I was, and to a great degree still am, a believer that we will end up with both (of some sort).
I-5 "improvements" means eliminating a downtown exit. That may be something we look at having to do in the future anyway.

What we are not ever going to get from the state is a through-tunnel after a surface option has been developed.
What we would get with going surface is the State always having a say in anything we run on the surface, anything.

Bury the state through-tunnel first, work on surface transit next, make getting through Seattle completely the state's problem. That is the last thought, or statement, that I have had on this subject.

Well, who is Robert Valdez (not that it really matters)?

Crosscut missed a few facts about Roger Valdez. I wanted to know what vested interest Roger Valdez has. It looks like he touches many of the same organizations that Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn was either a direct part of, or was endorsed by, or in some way advocated for Mike McGinn in the past. It looks like they are still on the endless campaign team.

Research Associate at Sightline Institute
and
CEO at Bricoleur LLC
Linkedin

Seattle Great City Initiative
(past and future clients)

He was a sometime HugeAssCity writer, check out this gem from 8/23/2009:
First, everyone will incessantly ask about it. “Why are you so focused on the tunnel?” The answer is “I have to. If this City commits $900 million dollars (which is sure to become $1 billion) we won’t have money to do any of the other critical things this city needs done. We are essentially committing to a decade of our resources into essentially will be a Viet Nam like quagmire. How can we focus on crime, sidewalks, transportation—all things our City is supposed to do—when a years worth of City budget dollars are going to be pumped down a hole for less than two miles of tunnel, with no exits in or out of downtown, not enough capacity and no ability to accommodate transit.”

The second and more practical reason is that it focuses attention on McGinn and keeps it there. McGinn will win because everyone will be talking about McGinn and the tunnel. Malahan will kind of just disappear. And the more we talk about the tunnel and the more people realize what a horrible boondoggle the thing is the more people are going to think it’s a bad idea.

I am so convinced of this that if Mallahan was my friend I would advise him to abandon his pro-tunnel stand, maybe even just say he’d be willing to rethink his position. The basis of McGinn’s candidacy would effectively be threatened because the issue that animated his resurgence would be gone. All that would be left is a fundraising knife fight which he would be almost certain to lose. But it is highly doubtful that the interests arrayed against reconsidering the tunnel option will allow Mallahan to double back on his position.

How To Win In November

Oh, a little bit of irony there, that he guessed the wrong guy would "double-back".

But wait, there's more!

Endorsements for McGinn for Mayor
Personal:
Roger Valdez - CEO, Bricoleur LLC

McGinn for Mayor, endorsements

Mmmm, looks like his Crosscut article is a rehash from a Hugeasscity article from last December.

What Just Happened?: The meaning of McGinn’s win
. . .
So what did happen? My theory is that the people of this city are ready for a new story. They are rejecting the Forward Thrust vs. Lesser Seattle, Spy versus Spy, conflict which has defined politics in our town since the 1970s. These two parties were pretty clear, the latter focused on big capitol projects the former focused on keeping Seattle a small town dominated by fishermen and descendents of pioneers. One group supported the Nordstrom Parking Garage (remember that one) and the other opposed it, for example. The Thrusters saw the garage as supportive of growth which would create economic development and the Lessers saw it as another attempt to pretty up Seattle for Yuppies and people from out of town.

What Just Happened?: The meaning of McGinn’s win

Here, Dan Bertolet sings the "Part of the Future" meme song:

The Party of the Future

Preface: To waste some time I wrote the riff below with the deluded idea that I might get it published in the Seattle Times, but upon submission was told they don’t publish op-eds that tout one candidate over another. Except their own, apparently. The “Party of the Future” meme was inspired by local brainiacs Alex Steffen and Roger Valdez, and isn’t mind-shattering stuff for the HAC bubble, but my big fat blogger ego compels me to post it anyway.

But if you believe that the reigning political establishment is unlikely to fulfill Seattle’s potential to become a city that will prosper in the face of serious future challenges; if you believe Seattle needs to step up and passionately respond to a rapidly changing world; and if you believe that these challenges and changes actually present inspiring opportunities, then please consider voting for Mike McGinn and the party of the future.

Mike McGinn is running a campaign that is almost entirely powered by volunteers, and funded primarily by small contributions from individual donors. And the promise of a McGinn mayorship is a future in which the establishment is compelled to follow the will of the people. As in when McGinn bucked conventional wisdom and led a campaign to reject a 2007 transit funding ballot measure because it was tied to excessive funding for roads. McGinn believed that enough people wanted light rail for it to stand on its own, and the passage of Proposition 1 in 2008 proved him right.
Hugeasscity: Party of the Future

And then there are the "Friends of Seattle", not actual friends, but a euphemism for lobbyist, Roger Valdez is a founder and active member of Party of the Future a project of the Friends of Seattle.

Tight circle.

What does Roger Valdez have to say about himself?
Roger Valdez is the bricoleur behind Bricoleur LLC.

Roger Valdez has worked as a campaign manager, lobbyist, legislative aid and program manager. Most recently he was legislative aide for City Councilmember Peter Steinbrueck. He was the manager of the Tobacco Prevention Program at Public Health Seattle King County and served as Regional Health Officer for Seattle. As a Neighborhood Development Manger for the South West Sector in the City's Department of Neighborhoods, he worked on implementing neighborhood plans.
About Roger Valdez [Google].


Roger Valdez, not doing magic.

Lastly, what does Crosscut say about Roger Valdez?
Roger Valdez is a founder and active member of Party of the Future a project of the Friends of Seattle. Party of the Future is an informal group of active Seattleites creating dialogue about the City Council and its decisions going into the 2011 City Council elections. Most recently they conducted a poll of Seattle voters on a variety of issues including the tunnel, alternative transportation, and land use, and how these issues might play into voters' decisions.

Tunnel debate is redefining Seattle politics || Crosscut.com

What is this about?
Well, ever week the Seattle City Council has had a meeting on the deep-bore tunnel. So, every week the opponents have to keep the opposition campaign alive with some seemingly random voice. This week it is Roger Valdez (guess it can't be Cary Moon every week).

Where the entire tunnel vs. some imagined alternative "debate" falls down is that there is an argument over the mode of commuting from "livable communities" to living wage jobs. The train lovers argue that an 18th century transportation system is the solution to a 20th century transportation "problem".
Lot's-o-talk about how people must commute, not much on why.

Why don't these walkable communities have living wage jobs within walking distance? The people that can afford these upzone condo-munities have to travel to some other place to make enough money to afford this lifestyle choice.

Until that "why" question is asked and studied in a meaningful way we will not know we have the best "how" answer in the commute/sprawl/density debate.

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Fwd: Project Update #7: Thunderbitch: Women Designers in Northwest Rock 1966-2010, exhibit catalog printing by Daniel R. Smith

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kickstarter <no-reply@kickstarter.com>
Date: August 4, 2010 5:28:59 PM PDT
To: Communicate.with.mike (a t) gmail.com
Subject: Project Update #7: Thunderbitch: Women Designers in Northwest Rock 1966-2010, exhibit catalog printing by Daniel R. Smith
Reply-To: No Reply <no-reply@kickstarter.com>

Catalog is Printed!

By Daniel R. Smith

I will have catalogs on hand for those coming to the Tether opening tomorrow. Otherwise please bear with me—once I get past the exhibit opening I will start mailing out books, probably as soon as next week!

There's been a lot of great press on the exhibit already:

The Stranger: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/poster-of-the-week/Content?oid=4596070

The Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2012523106_artwalk04.html?prmid=head_main

City Arts: http://www.thunderbitch.com/ndxz-studio/site/img/City_Arts_TB_article_sm.jpg

Seattle Show Gal: http://www.seattleshowgal.com/musical-philanthropy-thunderbitch/

Russian World: http://www.thunderbitch.com/ndxz-studio/site/img/RW-2010-08-02-B05.pdf

cheers,
Dan



Leave A Comment