Because I live in Columbia City, I had a front-row seat to the chaos created by the air shows over and the hydroplane races on Lake Washington this weekend. First thing: The event made it clear that nothing but the force of the law (muscular social engineering) will get Americans out of their cars and into other modes of transportation. How long has Seafair been going on? Donkey years. How long have we had light rail? Five years. And yet so many people were convinced that driving to Lake Washington was the way to go. One American thought and acted exactly like all other Americans: the car and nothing but the car. And so...

There was this, at the Columbia City Station—shuttles to the lake...

But because no one at Metro thought it a good idea to dedicate one street to these shuttles, they were as stuck as the cars...

Seattle needs to grow up and stop these silly games. We need to get serious, get some muscles, and make things work like a city.