Bold Kyoto Vision For Seattle

"If Seattle is going to do its part to slow global warming, people are going to have to get out of their cars.

That's the cornerstone -- and also the biggest challenge -- of a plan to be unveiled today for how the city can join countries from around the world in trying to meet the Kyoto Protocol, a 1997 international treaty to reduce climate-changing gases such as carbon dioxide.

The report, written at the request of Mayor Greg Nickels, says that if the city really wants to cut greenhouse gases, it needs to spend millions more on transit, build more compact neighborhoods, encourage energy efficiency and use more fuels from plants rather than petroleum."

Achieving that would transform Seattle, the commission members said: Buses would come much more often. Walking and cycling paths would be more plentiful. Buildings and appliances would use less energy. Housing and jobs would be clustered together. And lots of trucks would run on vegetable oil.

There would also be fewer parking spaces, and many of them would cost more. People might have to pay more to drive a car into downtown Seattle, or to drive alone in car-pool lanes.