Ideas
Essays, briefings, and field notes on Washington’s future.
Practical, optimistic, and grounded in evidence. Filter by domain or format.
8 pieces
The Housing Unlock
Washington legalized the missing middle. Now comes the harder work of building it — and the three reforms that decide whether the law becomes housing.
The 47 Index: Spring Briefing
Our quarterly read on whether Washington is becoming an easier place to build, create, and live. This quarter: permitting speeds up, the grid tightens, and a quiet win on apprenticeships.
AI in the Real World
Past the demos and the doom: how a port authority, a rural clinic, and a state permitting office are quietly using AI to do more with the same number of people.
The Grid That Says Yes
Washington has some of the cleanest power in America and a queue of projects waiting years to plug in. Inside the interconnection reform that could change that.
The Apprenticeship State
Four-year degrees are getting more expensive and less certain. Washington’s registered apprenticeships are quietly becoming the most reliable on-ramp to the middle class.
Salmon Economics
Stewardship usually gets framed as a cost. On the Skagit, a new generation of restoration projects is proving it can be an industry.
Permitting Is State Capacity
The unglamorous truth about Washington’s ambitions: nearly all of them route through a permit office. Here is how to make those offices fast.
The Cascadia Corridor
High-speed rail between Vancouver, Seattle, and Portland has been studied for a generation. What would it take to actually build it?