Michael Luis

It’s hard to know what planners were thinking when they began to encourage development of luxury housing with light industrial and commercial uses in the Bel-Red area. More high-density housing is likely, squeezing out low-margin businesses.

Fixed-route transit was a brilliant invention of the 19th century. Now we need to work on mobility for the 21st century.

Ignoring the negatives in the economy—or, worse, telling voters they are misperceiving those negatives—and trying to generate excitement about the programs in Bidenomics is a risky messaging strategy.

Under even the most generous assumptions, it is extremely unlikely that any Cascadia HSR system will be built. So why do we keep wasting time, energy and money studying it?

The guidance being provided by the Department of Commerce is coming from architects and planners, and it focuses on design issues. Almost nothing is being said about middle housing as a business.

Within the housing market, middle housing offers the chance to live in a quiet neighborhood setting without the large investment in a traditional single family house.

What will it take for the political pendulum swing back to a new, more inclusive version of effective regime politics?

We have made distinct choices in this state and region that have made housing very expensive. And we could make other choices.

Suburban cities resist change, but the Growth Management Act created an existential challenge to these cities. Now the Legislature may compound the crisis.

Landlords just hate to lower rents if they can possibly help it, since it would touch off tough negotiations with all the other tenants.