Seattle, like San Francisco, like New York City, is a city of water and bridges.  I remember reading Winter’s Tale by Mark Helprin back in college. I think it’s a book that I’d benefit from reading now, again, but one of the concepts that struck me even in my callow youth was his observation about cities that have bridges as part of their fundamental being.  He described how a city, to be magnificent, must “project, extend, fling itself in all directions–over the water, in peninsulas, hills, soaring towers, and islands linked by bridges.”

Seattle is that kind of city.

And it made me sad when I heard that one of our bridges, albeit a small and specialized one, was closing because of the government shutdown. Continue reading →