In the end, the New York Times said it succinctly: “A former Sierra Club leader who rode his bicycle to campaign events and relied heavily on volunteer support claimed a narrow and surprising victory on Monday in the race for mayor of this environmentally friendly city.” Several myurbanist alter egos spent time with Mike McGinn’s campaign from the August 18 primary through November 9, when the vote count made the results clear. Here are some photos of the final days.
![P1000642[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.myurbanist.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/P10006421.jpg?resize=300%2C225 "P1000642[1]")
![P1000648[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.myurbanist.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/P10006481.jpg?resize=300%2C225 "P1000648[1]")
A mayoral fairy tale in Washington State, as reported in the Seattle Times today.
Ooops. Although the poster forgot the 97.5% law practice part of the resume, the click-through is an interesting summary of other cities’ regulatory efforts.
The initial myurbanist post on transit oriented development (TOD), highlighted two recently released reports. Here is an additional resource, a Powerpoint summary presented in Olympia about a month ago, which outlines findings after investigation of top barriers to vibrant urban centers and TOD in the University of Washington/Quality Growth Alliance “From Barriers to Solutions and Best Practices” report.
As also noted in the post, the recently released Futurewise/GGLO “Transit Oriented Communities: A Blueprint for Washington State”, provides an applied analysis of what makes for successful development around transit stations and general guidance for future legislation.
Somehow my father–an urban planning professor–once obtained the copy of the the 1911 Bogue Plan of Seattle owned by J.W. Maxwell, who served on the Municipal Plans Commission representing the Seattle Clearing House Association as a member of the Plan’s “Location, Width and Girth of Arterial Highways Committee”.
For many years, I have used the Plan as a coffee table provocateur. But after seeing the sidewalks in Greenwood last night after the votes came in, I took a new look–and saw some messages from history.
The Plan is a classic “City Beautiful” document of the era, emphasizing the grand boulevards of a Civic Center never achieved, new, numbered highways and rapid transit, parks and port facilities, premised on “the development of the Civic Idea, old as the human race”–building to accomodate future population.
After all, Virgil Bogue was an engineer of some repute and veteran of railroad and port design and construction. For him, the Civic Idea was building, constructing and rehaping–beginning with the “testimonies of the dim ages” which brought us “earth mounds of America and the lithic structures of Stonehenge”.
Nearly 100 years later, we struggle with the legacy of such plans, and how to achieve their unrealized grandeur while remaking their Robert Moses outcomes. Bogue did not mention walkable neighborhoods, compact development or much green outside of large parks. Many would call the vision bold, yet hardly sustainable.
Still, he left a message–facing the Plan’s title page and reproduced below–reminding Seattle always to dream.
