David Brewster

Already, attractive small cities such as Bellingham, Port Townsend, and Anacortes are drawing people who want more natural beauty, small-town friendliness, and affordable housing--all while holding stimulating jobs.

Leaders of endangered arts groups and their boards are busy mulling possibilities. Here are some of the leading ideas, as well as the debate about them, not arranged in any order of preference.

Crosscut's early years were about as bumpy as Seattle streets, but two saviors came to its rescue: the Gates Foundation and KCTS. Now it's a force.

There is the intriguing possibility that Gov. Jay Inslee, once easily re-elected in November, will decamp to a high post in the Biden administration. At that eventuality, the new lieutenant governor automatically succeeds to the governorship.

The Virus Depression (called VD) has greatly changed the way we live. Surveillance mechanisms are now ubiquitous, monitoring temperatures, spacing, coughing. Grocery stores are well-policed, both to enforce health regulations and to guard against the food riots that broke out in late 2020.

Maggie drained the entire $100 million bridge replacement fund and soon the bridge design was high enough to allow passage of "the highest mast conceivable for a ship at that time; higher than has ever been remotely needed."

Bernie Sanders is one more example of how, once bitten by the presidential bug, politicians stay infected for years.

The problem can more probably be seen as a choice between roads and humans services. Seattle chose services.

Some reasonable guidelines for judging major changes: Spend bigly. With bailouts, strings need to be attached. Allow for some triage, particularly fading industries such as fossil fuels and governmental agencies beyond their pull-date.

Seattle has a knack for growing families of enormous wealth. Now's a good time to get some of these internationally-focused foundations a bit more intentional about the locals.