Comments on: A Post-Kunstler Tacoma

By: RR Anderson

RR Anderson — Tue, 06 May 2008 03:06:08 +0000

kunstler on colbert!

http://www.comedycentral.com/colbertreport/videos.jhtml?episodeId=167078

By: RR Anderson

RR Anderson — Mon, 05 May 2008 22:49:21 +0000

I wonder… Does Shawn Bunney fall within the jurisdiction of Tacoma cartoonists?

By: Chris K.

Chris K. — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:53:58 +0000

Great article, Morgan. I understand your skepticism about the death of air travel. If Kunstler had thrown in a couple of graphs and tables into his presentation that showed the “twin peaks” in oil finds and production levels it would have added a bit more of a quantitative foundation to his narrative about peak oil and the resulting “long emergency” of high energy prices.

Fundamentally, the peaking of oil is a geologic issue. Finite resources that are consumed at an accelerating rate must peak at a certain point and then fall into decline. It’s not something the market can cope with, without viable, scalable alternatives – such as transit and smart growth. (High efficiency cars are not a long-term scalable alternative because of the land requirements of autos and the fact that the gross number of automobiles (and VMT) is projected to increase significantly over the next few decades, eliminating any fuel savings from efficiency.)

Secondly, I’m going to have to concur with you on the degree of innovation and entrepreneurialism. Our local economy is characterized by a great deal of public expenditure, and in the form of hospitals and retail. And the components of the economy that do not conform to that picture are tied to the oil-dependent global economy. We need to diversify economically and invest in industries that promote local sustainability.

By: skyracer

skyracer — Mon, 05 May 2008 21:11:27 +0000

Yes, good article. One point, however, regarding the PSRC report, Vision 2040. As the name indicates, the document is a statement of what we want our region to look like in 2040 (the vision), not a projection. The idea was to provide guidance to jurisdictions preparing updates to their comprehensive plans (and maybe give some basis on which to appeal comp plans that don’t follow the policies outlined in Vision 2040).

By: Donovan

Donovan — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:34:55 +0000

Excellent article, though I am biased being a Tacoma resident. Your hopefulness and relevant national context is refreshing. For a look at the days when Tacoma was the center of regional activity there is a great documentary on the old rail system called “The Seattle Tacoma Interurban Railway. It shows how people relied on mass transit and how it affected peoples liveli hoods and lifestyles. I think it might be at the future of our region.

http://www.kcts.org/aboutus/season1/interurban/

By: Phil

Phil — Mon, 05 May 2008 19:31:30 +0000

Great analysis, Morgan! Why the Pierce County Council was conned into approving Cascadia is a good illustration of how long-range planning and stewardship of our natural resources and especially our urban/rural communities has fallen victim to short-term special interests and the largess of cash contributions they make to political hacks.

Just look to the PDC reports for Shawn Bunney. He was flush with developer cash years before announcing his run for County Executive. Now these same special interests are able to double their contributions by Bunney rolling over their cash from prior races. The TNT won’t report it, since most of their advertising revenue comes from businesses like SoundBuilt Homes and the MBA.

If folks aren’t out there encouraging reform and integrity in this system, I’ve concluded they have no right to bitch about the sprawl or traffic jams in South Hill/Graham, loss of farmland, or the continuing decline of our urban core. We’re consuming what little ‘virgin’ is left in our County.

Stadium, ’87 all the way, baby!!