Alice, one of these days... I'mmmm gonna send you to the moon!

Its very Seattle what is happening with the proposal to replace the Highway 99 viaduct with a new tunnel. To paraphrase the oft maligned Spiro T Agnew, in Seattle today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism. While our mayor is against the burden of cost overruns being forced on his constituency, he is clearly against the notion of the tunnel itself. There is another constituency here as well. But, building or delaying the project are both knowingly expensive solutions. As a constituent, we get taken either way.

Back in the day, when the original viaduct was proposed there was still controversy, but the project was green lighted by one powerful city council member who wanted a quicker commute from his West Seattle home, bollox the notion of any greater good to the community. Its really no different today, just different players with a similar narrow focus. Lately, the luddites want to put it to a vote, as if the majority can know what's better for the community than politicians. Where are the intellects?

Chihuly's reach...

Dale and the Museum...

Any reservations about the privately controlled Chihuly shop of horrors being proposed for the very "public" Seattle Center Fun Forest site? The heart of the matter, the pivot to approve such a venture leans toward financial viability. Privatization of any public space is the last consideration members of the Century 21 Committee need to be forwarding to the Center director. Even the viability of the site to cover expenses should not necessarily preclude a more "public" function. Of course, it would be better if a solution could take care of itself fiscally, but again, there must be larger purpose. A private company taking control of public property, celebrating one individual, in a narrow medium, and charging a $15 dollar entry fee smacks somewhat patronizing. Remarkably, in short order the community has circled its wagons to propose more democratic solutions. Hopefully, intelligence will prevail over recognized surnames.

Monterey

I've written in the past about my reluctance of the value of housing the wild as a means of explaining it, but a recent visit to the Monterey Aquarium gave me room to pause. Do jelly fish have souls? Can they understand or feel the boundaries within the tank? I don't know. But the presentations in this aquarium were impressive. I don't know that the flamingos or the otters have that same understanding enclosed in their "habitats". The irony was the immediate context of the location in a converted fish cannery where so many of their brethren were put in tin cans and the beauty of the ocean setting. So close, yet far away.

SJC

By coincidence we traveled through the new San Jose Airport on its very first morning in operation. This piece of public sculpture graces the mezzanine entrance to the gates, randomly recording (with cameras and video screens), rotating, and flapping, but alas the poor thing can't fly. A mechanical hybrid albino flamingo penguin. A keeper!

FLW

A chestnut archival interview with the grand don of American architects; Frank Lloyd Wright with Mike Wallace. Is there anyone in our profession today that speaks with as much authorship as Mr. Wright? Herbert Muschamp once described the architectural scene back in the 70's as a time with very few professionals, that most practitioners were in fact merely brokers. Reflecting on this interview one may feel the same way today.