Leslie Helm
How Can the Seattle Area Create a Better Environment for Nurturing Startups?
Editor Leslie Helm on stoking the star-maker machinery in Seattle.
In a dark night sky with a good telescope, you can see not far from the Big Dipper the spiral bands of M51. Extending across hundreds of light years and encompassing the mass of a million suns, this galaxy exhibits the perfect conditions for giving birth to new stars. One X-ray image taken by NASAs…
Editors Note: A View of the Future
What kind of city will emerge from Seattles incredible growth spurt?
Stop and listen. Do you hear it? The roar of the city is just a little louder, more jarring. Drivers are quicker to honk their horns, run red lights and screech their brakes. Turn your head. Look out the window. Theres yet another building appearing from nowhere like a missile rising from its underground silo…
Executive Q+A with Gene Duvernoy
Forterra president is intent on preserving what matters most.
Founded in 1989 as the Cascade Land Conservancy, Gene Duvernoys conservation and stewardship organization known as Forterra, now boasting a staff of 50, has managed more than 400 transactions on $500 million worth of real estate to conserve more than 250,000 acres of land. YOUTH: I grew up in New York. My father had a…
Editors Note: Home, Sweet Home?
Now isnt the time to emulate Berkeleys housing policies.
On a recent visit to Berkeley, where I attended the University of California in the late 1970s, I was struck by how little the city had changed. The neighborhoods are still lined with century-old houses. Still visible in the occasional garden amid a profusion of wild roses and sweet-smelling jasmine and wisteria are funky sculptures…
Editors Note: Toward Smart Urban Design
As Seattle grows more dense, its imperative that we do so intelligently.
During World War II, when accommodations were scarce, the house where Ive lived for the past 28 years was a flophouse for more than a dozen railroad workers. Beds were lined up six to a room. In the 60s and 70s, the house was home to a family with four daughters. My wife and I…
Editors Note: Playing the Trump Card
Beware the pitfalls of an America First approach to trade.
With multinationals like nike capable of moving production from one cheap source to another shifting production from Japan to China and now to Vietnam and with uber-efficient importers like Costco, Walmart and Amazon bringing goods straight from factory to consumer, the United States has become the bargain basement of the world. Meanwhile, U.S. exporters often…
Editor’s Note: Beware the Fire Dog
What the Chinese zodiac suggests about our new leader.
The end of January marks the Chinese New Year as well as the elevation of a volatile, capricious new leader to the highest office on the planet. Had we been more attuned to the finer points of Chinese astrology, we would have predicted the election-year peculiarities that produced this result. According to the Chinese zodiac,…
Editor’s Note: A Reason for Optimism
Donald Trump notwithstanding, 2017 in Seattle may be brighter than anticipated.
Its easy to be pessimistic about the outlook for 2017. After 90 months of growth, the economic expansion is aging and may not have much life left. Interest rates, which have fallen pretty steadily over the past 35 years, seem headed up again. If they reach anywhere near their 100-year average of 5 percent, that…
Editor’s Note: Rule Weary in Seattle
City regulations may be well meaning, but small businesses are feeling put upon.
David Lee founded FareStart in Seattle to train chefs because he believed the homeless would benefit from the dignity of preparing food as a vocation. He launched Field Roast, a producer of vegan meats, because he considers the mass industrialization of animals as a blight on our culture. He has nurtured a caring culture at…
What Does It Take to Become a Best Company to Work For?
Were often asked how businesses make the list.
People like to rave about companies that have pool tables in their lounges, free massages at employees desks and Friday afternoon happy hours at favorite watering holes. But seldom will such perks make us passionate about the companies we work for. What gets us out of bed every morning excited about going to work involves…