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Cascadia Magazine original: Three cities, one housing crisis
Week two of the Cascadia Magazine launch offers a detailed look at the housing crisis in the major cities of Cascadia. Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland are all facing astronomical rises in rents–and each city has taken a unique approach to solving the problem. Whether it’s increased public housing funds, changes to zoning, or incentives to developers, freelance Seattle journalist Casey Jaywork documents each of the strategies and examines if they’re working.
A crucial piece of the housing crisis is the problem of homelessness, and Casey’s feature investigates how these tactics will affect the increasing number of people living on the streets.
We’re proud to publish this comprehensive guide to the housing crisis throughout Cascadia. We need your financial help to keep publishing these sorts of articles. You can become a founding member of Cascadia Magazine–just visit our donate page. Thanks!
WA governor kills Columbia River oil terminal
Washington governor Jay Inslee announced today he was rejecting an application for a rail oil port in Vancouver, Washington on the Columbia, effectively killing the project. The decision comes after a state panel recommended not approving the terminal. A 2016 wreck of an oil train on the line that would supply the terminal resulted in a massive fire and spill of over 40,000 gallons of oil into the Columbia River.
British Columbia public auto insurer a shocking $1 billion in red
The Province broke the story of how ICBC, the publicly owned company that provides auto insurance to everyone in British Columbia, is over $1 billion in the red due to mismanagement, a steep increase high payouts, and concerns about fraudulent over-billing from auto repair shops. The shocking losses could end up costing ratepayers an additional $400 per year, the Province reports, or could put the provincial budget into a deficit.
Potential landslide near Yakima illustrates high housing costs
Officials have anxiously been watching cracks in Rattlesnake Ridge near Yakima, WA for evidence that a massive landslide is imminent, which could bury numerous homes and the interstate highway. According to Northwest Public Broadcasting, the evacuation has pointed out a surprising fact: housing costs in Yakima are high–especially for the largely Latino population of farmworkers. Meanwhile another report illustrates how a landslide could devastate the cultural and economic assets of the Yakama Nation.
Who exactly is the real Tonya Harding?
The release of the movie “I, Tonya,” is causing a lot of re-examination of the controversial figure skater from Clackamas county, Oregon, who was famously involved in a scandalous attack on her 1994 Olympic competitor, Nancy Kerrigan. The movie seems to be interested in rehabilitating her reputation but J.E. Vader, a journalist from the Oregonian who covered Harding’s story from the beginning, is having none of it: “Assaulting a rival to win a sporting event is despicable. (“I, Tonya” doesn’t comprehend that.)”
A modern-day witch defies the stereotypes
City Arts has a great profile of Bri Luna, AKA the Hoodwitch. The owner of a magical sorcery shop in Seatttle’s Pioneeer Square and followed by over 200,000 people on Instagram, Hoodwitch is leading a revolution in the magical arts, incorporating a wide range of traditions–from New Orleans voodoo to Scandinavian witch dolls–reflecting her multicultural heritage. Oh, and not to mention a dose of humor: “Did you know that 10–20 minutes of meditation per day can significantly reduce your risk of giving a shit?”
Colleen Louise Barry’s visual poetry
Poetry Northwest breaks beyond the usual constraints of poetry journals and publishes “Bye” a hallucinatory visual poem in graphic-novel style. It’s the work of Colleen Louise Barry, who’s best known as the creator of Mount Analogue, a Seattle small press book shop, gallery, and all-around rad space.
That’s all the news today from the endless drizzle world that is Seattle. –Andrew Engelson Photo credits: Vancouver high rise apartments by Joe Mabel, CC BY-SA 2.0