Friends of Seattle is in the news.

Philip Dawdy, "1.2 Million New People In Seattle?" Seattle PostGlobe (July 14, 2009)

Last night's mayoral candidate forum sponsored by the Friends of Seattle was mostly a snorefest with candidates fielding questions from Publicola.net's Erica Barnett on an array of urban planning issues--housing, densification, transit and the like.

One thing that did awaken my senses in the packed room at the Spitfire in Belltown was a line trotted out by audience members, some of the candidates and Barnett herself that "1.2 million people are coming to Seattle" over the next 20 years or so, necessitating a denser, taller, greener city with less single family housing, according to the room's collective wonky vibe.

Read the whole thing.

Although Philip Dawdy thinks otherwise, we found the event interesting. Watch the video here.

Friends of Seattle is in the news.

Laura Onstot, "A Mayoral Forum in Whispered Asides and Heckling," Seattle Weekly (July 14, 2009)

There is a small group of younger political wonks that regularly attend candidate forums and at this point in the year, they've pretty much made up their minds. So they're starting to pay less and less attention to the candidates' answers. Thanks to that (and the availability of booze), nearly every answer at last night's Friends of Seattle forum at the Spitfire was greeted with a rustle of whispered asides and at one point, actual heckling.

There may have been more of that had Mayor Nickels been in attendance. He was at a meeting of mayors at the White House and represented by one of his advisors, Mike Mann (pictured far left), who wasn't allowed to speak unless he felt the mayor had been unfairly maligned in some way. Joe Mallahan also canceled citing a family emergency. Only Norman Sigler, Jan Drago, James Donaldson and Mike McGinn to faced the crowd in Belltown.

Read the whole thing.

Friends of Seattle is in the news.

Josh Feit, "Last Night’s Debate…," PubliCola (July 14, 2009)

has turned into today’s debate.

The comments thread on this morning’s Morning Fizz post about last night’s mayoral debate is a total scene.

Friends of Seattle is in the news. Erica C. Barnett, "Sound Transit Explains It All for You," Slog: The Stranger's Blog (10 Sept 2008)

Last night, Friends of Seattle, a group that promotes urbanism and good environmental policy, hosted a Q&A with Sound Transit staffers, including chief spokesman Ric Ilgenfritz, at McLeod Residence in Belltown. The questions were generally thoughtful, unique, and even surprising—a pleasant change from what you usually hear at these events, which is more along the lines of “Is it going to go by my house?” and “How much will it cost me personally?” (Answers: Probably not, but it benefits the whole city; and about $69 a year.) Here are a few things you might not know about Sound Transit, in Ilgenfritz’s words. (Sound Transit haters, take note: This is all from Sound Transit’s perspective. If you disagree, feel free to let me know in the comments.) On ridership, and whether Sound Transit will pay for itself: “By 2030, we expect 360,000 daily riders with a capacity of more than one million. … No transit system anywhere fully funds its operations [with fare revenue].. We’re expecting to recover 45 to 50 percent [of costs] from fares, which is on the high end of the industry standard. … The system will reach a point where the benefits to the economy begin to exceed the costs in around 2034, which is about ten years after operation begins. So it’ll pay for itself.”

Read the whole thing.