News
Seattle’s Mini Mayors
Our's is one of the last big cities with an ‘at large’ city council. Some say it hurts neighborhoods
As he travels around Seattle seeking support for his City Council candidacy, Bradley Meacham hears the same two questions over and over again. “Can I vote for you?” and “Do I live in your district?” Every time, Meacham hesitates. The answer is complicated: Yes, Seattle voter, you can vote for Meacham. But no, you don’t…
Is Seattle Safe for Bikes? Mayor Calls for ‘Safety Summit’
Last week’s heartbreaking news of the accidental death of beloved Seattle barista Brian Fairbrother touched a lot of people, including many who work here at Seattle magazine. Within minutes of word of Fairbrother’s terrible bike accident last week, two conversations happened here. First, fond stories were shared about Fairbrother’s kindness and warmth, his originality and…
Bill Gates is Mad and Thinks You Should Be Too
In an interview for the October 2011 issue of Ebony magazine, Bill Gates makes it clear that he is none too happy about the state of public schools, namely those in inner cities. He points to it being a civil rights issue. And he wants to know why a strong social movement – especially in…
Remembering 9/11 in Seattle
Sunday marks the ten year anniversary of the September 11 tragedy. The impact was, of course, felt around the world. In Seattle that day, thousands gathered bewildered around Seattle Center’s International Fountain, looking for answers and communal mourning. In observation, Seattle magazine editors found ourselves looking back on the honest and artful expressions of various…
The Big Idea
If money were no object, what one thing would you do to fix Seattle?
Like most who live here, we’re fiercely in love with Seattle—but our love isn’t blind. Along with our singular natural vistas, thriving neighborhoods, leading-edge innovations and savvy, well-read locals, we have hideous transportation issues, under-performing schools and the all too common big-city heartbreakers: homelessness and hunger. If money were no object, what one thing would…
Nerd Report: New Illustrated Atlas Traces Seattle’s Physical Evolution
Turns out Google Maps can’t, in fact, do everything. Case in point: It can’t bring the past alive via wonderful illustrated maps—some more than a century old—like the Historical Atlas of Washington and Oregon (University of California Press; $39.95), published this month. Noted historian Derek Hayes, author of several other historical atlases, packs this big,…
Seattle Schools Serve Up Some Haute Lunch
The district’s just landed a brand-new food guru, whose bringing slow-food rules to the lunch line f
Paging Jamie Oliver! There are chicken nuggets and sausage-on-a-stick on the Seattle Public Schools’ lunch menu. The ravioli comes from a Chef Boyardee can. But like the popular British chef whose U.S. television documentary, Lunch Line, exposes the horrors of school lunchrooms, the Seattle school district’s new head of nutrition services, Eric Boutin, is fighting…
Video Game Technology Moves From Recreational to Real-World
Video games leap off the screen and into new tech products that help PTSD patients, drivers and webs
Seems like just yesterday video games were making the clumsy transition from bulky joysticks to sleek, wireless controllers. But youth fades, and the time comes to get a haircut, a real job and contribute something to society. Here in the Northwest, several gaming-inspired projects have done just that by advancing videogames from pixelated playthings to…
Thanks to Budget Cuts, UW Is Turning Away Dozens of Local Students
Local parents are outraged that more out-of-state students are getting accepted—but some say the UW
Words guaranteed to freeze the blood of any local middle-class parent of a teenager: “The University of Washington is now officially a stretch school.” That’s what a high school counselor recently told the Eastside mother of a rising high school senior—and what more and more students are hearing. By “stretch,” the counselor means, “Most kids…
Paddleboard Yoga Offers a New Core Curriculum
Master your lunge (else you take a plunge).
In the beginning, there was yoga. Next, hot yoga caught fire. But for Seattleites, even that wasn’t enough of a mind-body challenge. Now, behold WASUP: Washington Stand-Up Paddleboard Yoga. At last we can execute warrior poses while balancing atop a paddleboard in the middle of Shilshole Bay. Part of the Washington Surf Academy (wasurfacademy.com), which…
Why Seattle’s Tap Water Is So Good
The water-quality expert shares the secrets of Seattle’s delicious tap water.
West Seattleite Ralph Naess, 48, drinks water straight from the faucet. As manager of the public and cultural programs at the Cedar River Watershed—the more than 90,000 acres of natural habitat and protected water near North Bend that is the source of Seattle’s tap water—Naess has been quenching the public’s thirst for knowledge about local…
Local Artists Get a Kick-start
Seattle artists turn to a new social media tool to fund projects.
Seattle-based cartoonists Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub decided last year that they wanted their own reality Web-TV show. They had already proven that their style of “bro-mance” banter attracts a following, and they received the green light from Penny Arcade TV (an online entertainment video channel). The catch: They needed to fund the production themselves….
Lessons from Japan: Is Hanford Ready to Withstand a Big Earthquake?
Anna King Explores why watchdogs are worried about Washington’s only commercial nuclear reactor.
The ongoing nuclear disaster in Japan—triggered by the March 11 earthquake—has federal officials asking tough questions about nuclear safety in our state. Washington’s only commercial nuclear reactor, the Columbia Generating Station, is located on the grounds of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in south-central Washington. But it’s not the reactor that’s stressing experts out; it’s some…
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