3 Simple Supergenius Ideas for Seattle

Smart power. The MacArthur Foundation beat us to the recognition punch on one of these, awarding University of Washington computer scientist and assistant professor Shwetak Patel a “genius grant” for his work inventing “a series of sensor technology systems for home environments with the goal of saving energy and improving daily life through a broad range of applications.”

If you’re like me (i.e., live indoors, use electricity), then you’ve been watching your electricity bill steadily increase despite water not having a union (that’s a hydroelectricity joke, folks, one of the few). Your home is filled with an array of red- and green-eyed electrical devices that light up darkened rooms like Christmas all-year-’round, and it’s hard to tell which ones are sucking the most power down. Patel’s sensors will make it possible to know, outlet by outlet, how you’re using electricity.

Already he can tell you that your set-top cable box uses as much energy monthly as your dryer, simply because it’s on 24×7, while your dryer is used sporadically.

High streets. Mark Hinshaw writes in Crosscut about “killing retail by requiring too much of it” but the nugget of wisdom you want to walk away with is the natural tendency of businesses to aggregate in specific areas: high streets. Currently, Seattle’s land use rules require first-floor retail just about everywhere, and where there is high street potential (Broadway or Pike/Pine on Capitol Hill, for instance), this succeeds.

Where there is not, you get either empty storefronts or check-cashing shops. Writes Hinshaw:

For example in Pioneer Square, there are entire blocks with vacancies and For Lease signs. There is sufficient density, coupled with nightlife and the seasonally varying visitors, to support 4-5 blocks of shops and cafes along First Avenue between Cherry Street and Jackson. Beyond that, demand is spotty and only few categories of retail can make it — art galleries, antique stores, and a few coffee bars and cafes.

In fairness, part of the problem here is new construction in general. Rents in brand-new buildings are usually higher than in existing structures. Also, new buildings tend not to divide space up suitably, for reasons of economies of scale, for very small shops, the kind that fill specific neighborhood needs. That said, the prohibitive economics do not go away simply because it’s code. Orphan Road nods thoughtfully in agreement, mostly.

Gondolas. Why do we fixate on transportation modalities? For some people it’s BRT, others won’t leave home without light rail. The truth is the best transit system often seems to be the one that you are most familiar with.

With that bias out of the way, it’s easier to see that the best transit system is the one that throws the most transit tools at the challenges it’s facing. San Francisco’s BART is justifiably lauded, but it’s just one facet of a transit agglomeration that uses buses, heavy rail, light rail, streetcars, cable cars, car-sharing, and more to get around.

Gondolas, people sniff, like on ski slopes? Exactly. Given a dusting of snow, hilly Seattle’s similarity is exact. Matt Gangemi writes on CityTank about the advantages of a transit system so well-suited to the terrain.

They are ideal in built-up cities with hills, waterways, or highways, but are cost effective in any city thanks to the low cost of construction. The only construction required is at stations and towers – there are no roads, ramps, tracks, or tunnels to build.

“They are relatively slow (~14mph for the inexpensive detachable monocable, ~17mph for a 2-cable gondola, and a bit faster for the 3-cable system) so they’re not appropriate for long-distance transit,” admits Gangemi, but when even a short way is otherwise blocked or congested, the gondola wins handily. (With rush hour, of course, that means it wins during peak demand, two times each day, 365 days per year.)

Take Seattle Center to South Lake Union to Capitol Hill–please? There is no transit solution to getting cross-town during rush hours, since Denny and Mercer will be parking lots. Dedicated bus lanes for BRT seem infeasible, politically. Throwing more #8 buses at the problem has led to them stacking up behind each other, buses purportedly running every 15 minutes that arrive 30 minutes late if traffic is snarled.

Again, there is no solution envisioned, even as South Lake Union bulks up with Amazon, PATH, and Gates Foundation employees. We are simply supposed to accept as the natural way of things that public transit means taking 45 minutes to travel what could take seven minutes. Maybe it’s time to elect an engineer of some kind to the City Council?