Washington

Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels recently announced a plan to close off certain roads to cars on Sundays starting this month. Local business owners are worried that closures will keep people away.

An audio artwork called "Bus Station" will be installed in Olympia, WA's downtown transit station, to be heard over the public-address system.

Sound Transit is putting a major bus and rail plan on the November ballot. The Seattle Times has the details of where the money will go.

Residents of Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood are complaining about plans to redevelop nearby Fort Lawton which includes housing for seniors and homeless.

Seattle is closing the lid on a disappointing experiment with public toilets after spending $5 million dollars to install them. Cities from Boston to San Francisco have had mixed results with automated toilets, The New York Times reports.

The B Reactor at the decommissioned Hanford Nuclear Site in Washington State is up to become a national landmark for its role in producing uranium for The Manhattan Project.

Planners in Seattle want to add housing to Little Saigon, a neighborhood with a strong Vietnamese culture, without disrupting the district's character or displacing residents.

Employers in the Seattle area are outpacing City Hall in providing incentives to employees not to drive to work in single occupancy cars. A state law even requires companies with 100 or more commuters to provide alternative commuting plans.

Amid complaints of over-sized houses, officials in Seattle are considering enacting tighter regulations on the size of single-family homes.

State County and city officials revealed eight new options for dealing with Seattle's Alaskan Way Viaduct, a damaged double-decker inner city freeway.

Landscape architect Gary Sexton worked on a tight budget and dodged commissions and regulations to create a beautiful vision for downtown Bremerton (near Seattle).

In what is almost a real-life caricature of the battle of the single homeowner against the huge corporation, Edith Macefield refused to sell her home to a developer planning a major retail outlet, who then built around. This week Ms. Macefield died.

Despite the economic downturn, city officials in Spokane Valley, WA move forward with a plan to build something the city has always lacked: a true city center.

In this guest column, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels, and King County Executive Ron Sims argue that Seattle needs to find a creative solution to the problem posed by its aging inner-city freeway.

Developer Casey Roloff has built an ambitious new community on the Washington coast with New Urbanist ideas and a Northwest flavor.

A local commercial property developer has built two prototype units and announced plans to erect a 62 unit complex -- claiming the factory built units will cost 15 percent less then traditional housing.

City officials and local businesses in Seattle are teaming up to offer cash and prizes to residents who limit their car use this summer.

A Googie-era Denny's Restaurant in the Seattle area is at the center of a debate about how buildings get designated as landmarks. Yesterday, the Preservation Board relented on economic considerations, and the building is slated for demolition.

Instead of asking residents to consider a timid plan this November, the region's transit agency should wait until its first light rail line opens, and gas prices rise even higher. Voters will then be ready for a grander plan, argues a recent column.

Celebrated for its livability and character, the city is increasingly unaffordable to the very people who gave Seattle its funky vibe.