Wednesday Waste-o-Meter -- Week 1

I was a plastic water bottle junkie. More on that later.


Apparently, I am also a plastic-bag junkie. Witness a picture of my office desk drawer:




Although I bring my lunch to work quite a bit (today -- Katie's outstanding Pancit), there are many days when I head out for lunch and receive a bag exclusively for carrying said lunch back to my desk. Over the last year, I have probably thrown away more than 100 of these bags just so I have the convenience of carrying my falafel salad back to my desk.


Back to plastic water bottles... my office provides free water in the form of filtered or bottles and I used to be the guy that would take a case of water back to my desk and proceed to destroy it in a couple of days. I was a serious junkie.

Since then I decided to buy a Klean Kanteen for a number of reasons -- I'm a little freaked out about plastic leaching from bottles, filtered water is probably better than bottled water from a health standpoint, and I was getting a serious case of the guilties through all my bottled water drinking. I haven't sworn it off entirely... I went through about three litres of bottled water last time I was on a plane, and I drink some carbonated stuff, etc. etc. So instead of a junkie I'm more like a functioning plastic user.


Ok... onto the weekly tallies.


A. How many bags of non-recycling garbage did I throw away last week? 1 -- although it is full right now so far all intents and purposes it should be 2.


B. How many plastic water bottles this week? 0!!!!


C. How many styrofoam containers? 2 -- This one is tough... I love the meze trio at Mediterranean Kitchen at Westlake Center, which comes in styrofoam. (Yes, I'm a foodie of the highest order.)


D. How many plastic bags.? 0!!! I brought a plastic bag with me to Mediterranean Kitchen and took it out of my pocket when they were about to put my styrofoam container in it. I felt like a hobo -- so the next time I just asked for it without a bag. And carrying it without a bag seemed to work just fine.


E. How many paper cups? 8 -- Yikes! I get coffee everyday and I need to get a mug or container. Monorail Espresso and Cupcake Royale single-cup but the "Best" double-cups, hence the 8th, you can read about the "Best" here.


F. How much does my garbage weigh? Didn't get to this one.


New fun fact... I go through a LOT of plastic silverware I realized... need to think this one through. Until next week...

Eating Local in Leschi

This spring Katie and I, on vacation in Manhattan, were very interested in a restaurant which bragged about how everything on the menu was local. They went out of there way to say how local they were. So my wife and I went because we are a little nuts about that stuff -- and we have a high bar.

Some things on the menu were from a nearby farm but the first thing I noticed on the menu was Florida Grouper, which struck me as decidedly non-local and I couldn't take the restaurant's marketing seriously after that.

If I wanted to eat only local in Leschi, that would be impossible (I think) because my garden isn't large enough, there isn't any farmland and there may be a pea-patch or two but not enough for the whole community... so I started to research a few organizations which could help me think about a sustainable Seattle, and here are a few sites to check out.

Institute for Local Self-Reliance -- with an interesting climate change article that says Seattle is a good city WRT carbon footprint per capita -- more on this later b/c I'm either not buying it or I wonder what the hell is going on in other cities if Seattle is an example for the world.

Sustainable Seattle -- unfortunately, it looks like their homepage post is 2 years old... not sure yet, need to read more

Slow Food Seattle -- I dig it -- unique foods -- but the first one I saw them promote is a Peruvian potato... so not indigenous but am not sure that's their focus.

interested in your links/comments if you know of other good ideas...

I Cheated on Monorail Espresso

On the weekends, in the 98122, I buy coffee at the Madrona location of Cupcake Royale, on the weekdays I buy coffee at Monorail Espresso.


On Thursday, though, running late for a meeting in another office and heading in on a bus from Interbay (don't ask), I grabbed a coffee from Seattle's "Best" Coffee on 4th & Pine.


I felt pretty guilty about it, which is strange because I only started going to Monorail this April when I changed offices and was previously drinking the "Best" or going where the stars go for coffee. I actually hid my finished coffee cup as I walked by the Monorail that morning and refused to give the espresso stand, the line, the baristas any eye contact.


I'm reformed with respect to my coffee drinking habits.... unless I'm in a hurry I guess... or an airport... or Lebanon.


Which brings me to the purpose of this post... the Americano Conundrum... which was part of the reason I switched to the Royale and something I forgot about the "Best".


The Americano Conundrum is when a barista asks if you would like "room for cream" with your Americano. If you say "no", as I do, then at the "Best" often times you will get a completely full cup of coffee that will severely burn your hands if you tilt the cup at even a 1 degree angle or if you try to put on a plastic lid. If you say "yes" (to avoid the burns) you may get a lot of room or a little room -- there is no standard. In this case I become worried that the barista thinks I don't know how to order coffee ("This guy wanted room for cream, but didn't put cream in his coffee".) If you try to avoid the conundrum and specify the amount of room ("I'd like walking room", "I'd like 3/4 inch room", "I'd like 3 fingers of room") then you just sound ridiculous.

At Cupcake Royale or Monorail, there is always a consistent amount of room. Enough that you can put cream in if you like and still not burn your hands.

There you go -- the Americano Conundrum.

Click-It or Ticket -- Leschi Style

I'm sure everyone reading this knows what "clickit or ticket" is -- the catchy slogan designed to get you to wear your seat-belt -- although my wife prefers to say "clickit or get a ticket" which she insists is far more catchy.


What really gets you to obey the traffic lights or safety ordinances, though, is a police presence. I immediately tense up when I see an patrol vehicle, its almost instinctual, probably some kind of subconscious reaction to some of my childhood antics, where I would egg the school or move "for sale" signs to different houses or rearrange neighbors' outdoor patio equipment in the middle of the night.


For instance, it doesn't matter what I'm doing I will never commit any sort of traffic violation outside of 12th and Pine/Pike. It's not because that's where the police station is... for many years I didn't even know that's where the East Precinct was located. It is because there is nearly always a police car parked at one of those intersections.


All of this is a lead-in to why I've been thrilled to see a clear increased presence of patrol cars around the corner of 32nd and Yesler, in part due to the efforts of the Leschi Community Council and some of my calls to the local precinct about unsafe driving practices outside of Leschi Elementary.


I saw a car on Thursday evening parked on the south side of 31st and Yesler, and have heard several reports of patrols nabbing speeders and stop-sign blowers over the past month or so.


I'm not in favor of tickets, or anything like that, but if this gets people to instinctively be more careful around the elementary school, I'm all for it!

Wednesday Waste-o-Meter

In the 1920's, Seattle garbage was still collected by horse-drawn garbage wagon and started moving to garbage trucks.

Today, it's collected in state of the art garbage collection trucks, and in Leschi it's collected on Wednesday mornings.

According to King County, in 1999 residents threw away about four pounds of garbage per person per day. The City of Seattle recycles about 44% of its garbage today, and is putting together measures and plans to increase this to 72% by 2025 and somewhere around 55% by 2010.

There is also a movement in many parts of the world to simply reduce the amount of plastic used. When I was Ireland this summer, I was shocked (in a good way) to find out that all of Ireland, or at least the county that I was in, had banned plastic bags. We found this out the hard way when checking out of a grocery store to find (horror!) that the store wasn't giving us a free one-time-use bag to carry our items to the car. So we bought a grocery bag for the week, which my parents brought back with them to the States. I was surprised to find that Ireland is more progressive than my all-organic food co-op on Capitol Hill, but I have my head in the sand half the time. In San Francisco, plastic bag bans are starting up and the mayor is front & center of the debate.

So I started thinking... how much garbage do I haul off each Wednesday? And what kind of plastic do I go through on a weekly basis.

So I'm going to count. And post it here, at least for a few weeks.

Think of it as the Wednesday Waste-o-Meter

Specifically:

- how many bags of garbage (non-recycling) per week
- how many plastic water bottles per week
- how many styrofoam containers per week
- how many plastic bags per week
- how many paper cups per week
- maybe I'll figure out how much my garbage weighs, although no promises.

Seattle Times Prop 1 Shocker

The Seattle Times had a shocking revelation in today's paper -- interest groups are distorting facts about Proposition 1!!! Tomorrow's hard-hitting investigative piece: Seahawks fans prefer wins over losses, especially during the playoffs.

For me, each side loses credibility when it goes out of its way to demonize their opponents views or attempts to mislead. Some recent examples in Prop 1:

1. I received one of those recorded messages on my answering machine last week from a local mother of two who urged me to vote for Proposition 1 because it would save the environment. She mentioned the light rail, but not the highway expansion, and did not provide any facts, figures or arguments, but asked me to lock arms with one of my own.

2. The Sierra Club sent me an oversized post-card with a picture of a polar bear cavorting with another polar bear friend on a giant sheet of ice and then proceeded to slam the highway expansion while de-emphasizing the public transportation initiatives. I didn't check if the postcard was made using recycled materials or soy-based ink.

What I've tried to answer for myself on Prop 1 is:

1. Do I agree with what Prop 1 is trying to solve for?
2. Do I believe it will work?
3. Is it worth the cost?

I think Proposition 1 is trying to solve for travel in, out and around Seattle.... making it safer, making it faster, making it more efficient. I agree with that goal.

Do I think it will work? I don't. I think more highway lanes encourage more driving and also make places like downtown Seattle that can't expand it's car capacity worse. Chicago has expanded its highway lanes in the last 40 years while population growth is under 5% over that time, and traffic is terrible there. (I grant that is a broad generalization that includes many factors but interesting to note.) Seattle population today is basically flat with what it was in 1960. 1970, 1980 and 1990 actually had less Seattle residents than in 1960, where it eclipsed 1960 with the 2000 census. And the downtown is the same size... so why would we increase car capacity to downtown?

And I don't think it's worth the cost in increased taxes and pollution. I think we should focus on making our roads and bridges safe and making public transportation a realistic and practical choice for consumers.

[where: 98122]

Meskel -- Darn Tasty Ethiopian Food

I have eaten Meskel's veggie combo at least twenty times in the last year.

Dear readers, Meskel is on 26th and E Cherry in Leschi, and if you'd like to dip your toes in the water with Ethiopian cuisine or even if you've tried a number of them on E. Cherry and E. John streets you won't be disappointed.

I love the concept of the veggie combo... you get a little bit of everything. Before I extol the virtues of each part of the veggie combo, I must note that there are plenty of delightful meat options for my omniverous friends.

Now, let us proceed with the goods -- here is a picture of the Veggie Combo in all its glory.

Going around the dish counterclockwise (starting at 11:45) are the lentils. These are like a spicy, thick lentil soup, and you scoop it up with the injira, which (according to Mr. Wiki) is a pancake-like bread made out of teff flour. There are also lentils in the center in the picture.

The mixed salad has onions, tomatoes, lettuce and a light dressing and is a good complement to the spice of the beans.

Then we have the tomato fitfit, which is like injira and tomatoes mashed together and is one of the highlights. A friend of ours will often order a side of fitfit in addition to a veggie combo b/c she is fitfit crazy.

Then there is the cheese which is like a dry cottage cheese and is homemade.

The split peas(?), the yellow piece is not as spicy as the lentils and is very hearty.

The greens are cooked chard finely chopped, and they remind me a bit of what Popeye would eat and probably explain my ripped physique. No, that's not me, the bicep is far too small.

Finally, the warm potato and cabbage(?) salad with baby carrots. I must admin I pick out the baby carrots. Don't like 'em.

There you go. And it's $10. Wow. Go eat it.

Their web site is also very detailed. Despite what the home page says, you will not need reservations. Meskel can be pretty full, but I would not expect you to ever be turned away. There is outdoor dining in the summer.

Also there is apparently a wine bar downstairs? Wine bar may be stretching it, but it always seemed like there was a party going on down there and I 've never checked it out. Based on the picture, I think I may need to have a pre-dinner beverage down there sometime (and Meskel has a nice selection of Ethiopian beers plus Red Hook and I think Bud Heavy.)

[where: 98122]

Leaning Against Proposition 1

I received an overview of Proposition 1 in the mail yesterday, which King County residents will be voting on November 6th. Seattle PI has a decent overview here.

As of this writing I'm voting against it, mainly because of the significant new highway construction that is part of the legislation.

The mailing says it will save drivers time from Bellevue to Renton on 405 (15 min), Mill Creek to Lake Stevens on SR9 (15 min) and Auburn to Renton on SR167 (8 min). There will also be HOV lanes added to 520 plus a light rail track. Then, the mailing says that it will increase Sound Transit ridership by 170,000 people daily because it will save people time.

This is the major disconnect for me. An increase in Sound Transit ridership means that people who currently drive to Seattle will need to switch to public transportation. But why would people change from driving to riding if their driving commute times drop because we have more roads? When I-5 had its month-long constuction this summer, Metro ridership jumped double digits. It's not because folks suddenly became environmentally-conscious or suddenly liked the bus, it's because it became more convenient. And if we make driving more convenient I simply don't buy that people will make the switch to Sound Transit anyway.

About 48,000 people ride Sound Transit daily and about 350,000 ride Metro. This plan assumes that there is a 50% ridership increase over 25 years when Prop 1 construction of light rail happens.

I'm going to go back to the simple idea of simply increasing bus service. Make the buses more convenient by having them run more often. Upgrade them with wireless access and/or TVs. I think people will use them. And the great thing? You don't need to wait 25 years to see if this plan works. Buy a couple of buses and modernize a single route. Take mine. Please take mine, the 27, and upgrade service to every 10 minutes and see how much ridership increases. The great thing???? If you're wrong go to plan B.

BTW -- I'm not against everything in Prop 1, I'm for the safety improvements to roads and whatnot but as a whole I say no to Prop 1.

Interested in your comments... and BTW this is a good blog.

[where: 98122]

How much Hazardous Waste in your Community?

Here is a map of all businesses approved for handling hazardous waste in 98122. This map actually goes beyond 98122, I found it interesting how many were directly around Cal Anderson Park, which currently has a reservoir under reconstruction.

It's pretty hard to tell exactly what is being regulated here, but there are 81 total businesses in this zip code that are hazardous waste handlers, one with toxic releases and one with air releases reported. Type in your zip code to see yours.

[where: 98122]

Enjoying Licorous from the Hallway

Quick departure from my endless rants on transportation to discuss an enjoyable evening at Licorous, the restaurant owned by and adjacent to Lark in the good old 98122 near Seattle U.

The two restaurants are next door, but do not share a kitchen... separated by a driveway/alleyway. This is not a fine dining / white tablecloth establishment, but I would call it upscale bar/lounge food and if you're going to go there understand that you'll be lounging on low-chairs or sitting at the bar. No plush booths and first-class legroom.

The meal was pescatarian-friendly, -- I enjoyed as small plates
- Tuna Crudo
- Lobster Mushroom Crudo
- Cheese Plate
- Heirloom Tomato Salad

And then had Seared Scallops as an entree.

They have a nice, reasonably-priced wine list. We shared a bottle of Pinot, a cocktail and a dessert wine with a friend... which brings me to the hallway.

We sat at the bar, and I sort of didn't realize all of the small courses and glasses of wine I was consuming, and ate like it was going out of style and when I got home decided it might be nice to curl up in the hallway, which I did, and thought about tuna crudo and lamented the upcoming Sonics season and wondered why on earth I decided on the dessert wine and promptly napped until waking up later that evening for a proper night's sleep.

Bravo Licorous, hope to see you soon.

[where: 98122]

27 Reasons to Increase Leschi Bus Service

Ok, I only have three reasons but I'm talking about the 27 route. Remember... earlier this month a Metro representative said that with ridership at only 1,500/day they would not increase service on the 27 route over the next five years.

My intrepid reporting proves otherwise. Last Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday I took three different buses... the one that gets downtown at 7:45, 8:10 and 8:30AM. They are all standing room only by 16th & Yesler (about 1/2 way through the route)... with about ten stops to go before 4th and Pine. The pictures are grainy from my sub-par cellphone, but what they all "show" is that if you're going to be on a full bus and probably standing if you want to ride.

Monday -- 8:10










Tuesday -- 7:45










Wednesday -- 8:30











So what is going to get someone new to ride the bus that can drive a car for not much more cost... you know the discretionary riders.... by increasing service.

[where: 98122]

Metro Bus News from Leschi CC

A King County Metro representative attended the October Leschi Community Council meeting last Wednesday. Some enlightening news.

On the subject of increasing bus route coverage.

1. Metro has a shortage of operators. Apparently, they're only hiring part-time drivers from what I can tell, maybe I'm not looking in the right place.

2. According to King County, they are in the middle of the largest expansion in history, announcing a purchase of 500 new buses over five years. However, it only appears that 22 of these buses are coming in 2008 and 100 2009. And the representative said a new bus basically requires a three-year lead time. Yikes.

3. The Metro rep said they are planning on increasing service to the 8 and 14 in the next five years because they're ridership has about 3,000, but they are not increasing service to the 27, which is how I get to work, because ridership is only 1,500.

To me, this last point is the fundamental problem.

If we want bus ridership to increase to reduce global warming or congestion or whatever, bus supply needs to increase ahead of demand.

The 14 Route has eleven buses between 6:30 AM and 9:30 AM to downtown from Jackson. The 27 only has seven. Is the reason that there is less ridership on the 27 because there are fewer interested commuters or because there are fewer buses and it is less convenient?

For those people that can choose to ride the bus or drive, I argue that frequency is the primary variable. So if you're waiting for ridership to increase before increasing bus frequency, it's never going to happen.

4. Metro is under a 20/40/40 plan, which means that 20% of all new bus service is for Seattle, 40% for the Eastside and 40% for South King County. Don't really know what this means, but I'm all for more more more.

[where: 98122]