Monthly Archives: December 2010

News, Travel

Amtrak Breaking Every Record Except Speed

10 Comments

Cameron Booth’s “Amtrak Subway Map” (for sale as a poster) beats anything Amtrak has to show you. Sigh.

“134,230 passengers rode Amtrak on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving,” crows Amtrak in their pdf press release, “a new record for the single busiest day in the history of the railroad.” More than 704,000 passengers took Amtrak over the holiday weekend. In contrast, all the airlines together were expecting to average about 2 million passengers per day during the same period, so Amtrak is pulling a significant share of the holiday traffic load.

Closer to home, ridership on the Amtrak Cascades route jumped 13 percent from last year, largely thanks to the second train added for the Olympics. When the eejits running Wisconsin and Ohio rejected high-speed rail funds, the Cascades route was showered with an extra $161 million, which will be spend on not going slow, or coming to a complete halt. Of particular interest is combating the winter mudslides that occur each winter north of Seattle, and can result in full days without train service (passengers are bused around the slide).

The bulk of our previously allotted “high speed rail” money will be spent on switches allowing passenger trains to bypass the much slower freight trains. That, coupled with track upgrades, should allow top speeds of up to 110 mph. In the U.S., 90 mph qualifies as high speed; in Europe, riders expect nothing slower than 150; China has some 200-plus mph options. Basically, 110 mph is like we’ve caught up with Japan in 1964.

News, Real Estate

How the Seattle Real Estate Market is Like an Ice Cream Cone

“much can be said” courtesy of our Flickr pool’s +Russ

How is the Seattle real estate market like an ice cream cone? It’s frozen and it either is currently “clearly a double-dipper” or will be. (Once again, Portland gets there first.)

Hell may have frozen over as well as Seattle; the Seattle Bubble says this could be a good time to buy a home. Granted, they’re talking about prepared buyers taking advantage of that below-market deal they’ve found. Anecdotally, this is echoed by Redfin’s report on the Seattle area market, which notes that a few first-time home buyers are making their move. 

Otherwise, of the Seattle area homes pulled off the market in November, a full 60 percent were delisted by owners who plan to wait out the winter. Only 40 percent were sales. Of the city of Seattle 1,700-house November inventory (down 14 percent from October), 344 sold, while the time it took to close on a sale continued to lengthen thanks to difficulties finalizing financing.

Seattle condo sales remain way back in the deep freeze section, down a full 50 percent year over year. 137 sold, but 200 were delisted, to wait for spring. The Bubble warned that the home buying credit program was simply pulling demand from the future, and that once it ended, we’d see the frozen wasteland currently before us. But it is also true that many first-time buyers went the condo route, and now sit underwater, unable even to think of taking a short sale’s loss; the average condo sale price per square foot is down just 1.2 percent from last November.

Meanwhile, bottom-callers have these home-price declines to stare at. (Here’s the Bubble’s latest Case-Schiller graphs.) It’s not just Seattle, of course–Seattlepi.com reports that Seattle and ten other metro areas are seeing a “triple-dip,” and analysts predict anywhere from another six to fifteen percent slide over 2011. (Nor is the problem limited to residential real estate–the Wall Street Journal reports that Beacon Capital Parters, owners of the Columbia Tower Center, are selling their best-performing asset to raise capital to meet debt obligations.)

The vexing part of the real estate market watch is that all of these valuations are dependent upon an area’s greater economic health, which is something that neither you nor I nor the most perspicacious home shopper can account for. At a time when “A Ton Of Bailed-Out Banks Are On The Brink Of Collapse” nationally (a “ton” here equalling 860 banks), things that have nothing to do with curb appeal are driving the market. 

Arts & Entertainment, Visual Arts

Glimpses: “SnOMG!!”

Seattle has so far escaped the clutches of the Puget Sound Convergence Zone this morning; UW meteorologist Cliff Mass has a post up on the hit-and-miss nature of the snowfall, which is whitening Lynnwood to Everett. That being the case, here’s some snow anyway, courtesy of shawnmebo and our Flickr pool. It’s a gorgeous shot, thanks to the play of light and shadow, and soft and hard outlines.

Visual Arts

Glimpses: "SnOMG!!"

Seattle has so far escaped the clutches of the Puget Sound Convergence Zone this morning; UW meteorologist Cliff Mass has a post up on the hit-and-miss nature of the snowfall, which is whitening Lynnwood to Everett. That being the case, here’s some snow anyway, courtesy of shawnmebo and our Flickr pool. It’s a gorgeous shot, thanks to the play of light and shadow, and soft and hard outlines.

Arts & Entertainment

On the List: December 29-January 4

A grizzly bear is treated to an evergreen tree decorated with real-fruit ornaments and pasta as icicles at Woodland Park Zoo’s Winter Celebration. Photo credit: Ryan Hawk

Wednesday, December 29th

  • Your last chance to see the animals get Winter Celebration treats of food @ Woodland Park Zoo
  • The final few days of Winterfest and the ice rink fun @ Seattle Center
  • Drink bubbly and eat cupcakes while raising money for the Capitol Hill Cupcake Royale manager who lost her home in a fire @ 12th and Olive Wine Company
  • “Oh, friends, not these tones! Let us raise our voices in more pleasing and more joyful sounds!” The Seattle Symphony takes on Beethoven’s Ninth (also Dec. 30, Jan. 2) @ Benaroya Hall
  • “Jose & Kat Sing Nancy & Nat” @ Tula’s

Thursday, December 30th

  • Thanks to mean old Mr. Potter, it’s the last night for It’s a Wonderful Life @ the Grand Illusion
  • Tiny Furniture closes its tiny mumblecore run @ Central Cinema
  • Or make your own movie (as an extra, at least) @ 12th Ave Stumptown
  • The first of two sold-out Neurosis shows, this one with support from Wolves in the Throne Room and Black Breath @ Neumo’s
  • Attention Vince Mira fans! He’s @ the Can Can

“Space Needle New Year” by SunBreak Flickr contributor Paul Swortz.

Friday, December 31st

  • Take in a Columbia City New Year’s with a 21+ show, starring Dyme Def, Hounds of the Wild Hunt, Night Train, and more @ Columbia City Theater
  • Or head out to see up-and-coming singer-songwriter Lissie, along with Tyrone Wells and Kristen Ward @ Snoqualmie Casino
  • What about a New Year’s Eve Bash with Three Dog Night @ Emerald Queen Casino
  • And while Neurosis is all sold out @ Neumo’s, don’t forget about the Reverend Horton Heat @ El Corazon and X @ the Moore
  • Fresh Espresso and Head Like A Kite ring in the new year with a “big ball drop” @ the Crocodile
  • It’s Seattle Symphony’s New Year’s Eve concert, countdown, and celebration @ Benaroya Hall
  • Comeback’s “xtraordinary nite of Glamour, Fierceness, Realness, and Shade!” (what?) emceed by Ade with music from Colby B, Porq, and Freddy King of Pants at XTRAVAGANZA @ Chop Suey
  • The Dusty 45s will kick New Year’s skinny ass @ the Triple Door
  • Speaking of asses, dance yours off at the Footloose dance party @ Central Cinema
  • Looking for a crowd? 3,000 are expected at Indulgence 2011 @ EMP
  • Over in Bellevue, the Seattle Choral Co. rocks out with Carmina Burana @ the Meydenbauer Center
  • If you want a good view, there’s also a New Year’s Eve Bash @ the Columbia Tower
  • “Bling in the New Year” with the burlesque hits of the Can Can Castaways and the Heavenly Spies @ the Can Can
  • Teatro Zinzanni has a special night all lined up @ their tent

Saturday, January 1st

  • Cover your eyes or wear sunglasses: It’s the Ninth Annual Polar Bear Plunge @ Matthews Beach
  • Noah “You heard my song on One Tree Hill“? Gundersen and the Courage play @ the Triple Door
  • The first of two days of the Sound of Music sing-a-long @ the 5th Avenue Theater

Sunday, January 2nd

  • The Seattle Baroque Orchestra and Early Music Guild celebrate the new year with an afternoon of Vivaldi @ Town Hall
  • Last day to catch the Implied Violence and “Seance” exhibits @ the Frye Art Museum
  • Salt of the Sea, starring Brooklyn-raised, third-generation Palestinian refugee and Tony Award-winning slam poet Suheir Hammad, screens (through Jan. 6) @ Grand Illusion 

Monday, January 3rd

  • Monday…meh. How’s about seeing the Picasso exhibit before it closes on the 17th @ SAM

Tuesday, January 4th

  • It’s the first of six nights of gypsy jazz with Pearl Django @ Jazz Alley
  • The Jay Thomas Big Band knows all the chords @ Tula’s
Restaurant

Year’s Strangest: Tasty Canned Sticky Rice at 101Yess

With nearly everyone writing up Top Ten lists for the year (I’m deliberating whether to do the same), I thought I’d share one of the year’s strangest dishes.

Last week, roaming around for noodle research, I made a stop at Bellevue’s 101Yess. First off, this might quality for the year’s strangest restaurant name, though if you know it’s a Taiwanese place and break down the name, you might make sense of it.

I knew what noodle dish I wanted, but I also knew I had to try something on the side. And there it was: “Tasty Canned Sticky Rice.” Fortunately, it’s not food plopped out a can, though given the catfood-like appearance, it sure looks like it. Instead, it’s sauteed sticky rice with pork and black mushrooms that’s steamed in a can mold and then topped with “special house sauce.”

That’s the canned part. Tasty? Maybe more for the mouth than the eyes. Maybe.