As if on cue, David Hembrow posted this today: "Bus stops which don't cause problems for cyclists" http://hembrow.blogspot.com/2011/10/bus-stops-which-dont-cause-problems-for.html A similar design was just put in place on part of Dexter Ave North, one of Seattle's most used bike routes: http://seattlebikeblog.com/2010/08/26/buffered-bike-lanes-a-much-better-fit-for-dexter/

For what it's worth, the Seattle Streetcar also did fine in the snow, but right now there's only the short, flat South Lake Union line: http://www.flickr.com/photos/joshuadf/5209589490/ It will be interesting to see how snow and ice effect the First Hill Line which will be constructed in the next few years with SoundTransit funding. https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/First_Hill_Streetcar

Just a guess, but maybe office parks came from the same deprecation tax rules that brought us the shopping mall? Malcolm Gladwell’s feature “The Terrazzo Jungle” is an absolutely fascinating account (very long but section 4 is about the financing): http://www.gladwell.com/2004/2004_03_15_a_malls.html “Victor Gruen’s grand plan for Southdale was never realized. There were no parks or schools or apartment buildings—just that big box in a sea of parking.”

Paul Johnson, you seem to be confusing population growth with population replacement. The Pacific Northwest, like most developed counties, actually has negative natural population growth (below replacement rate). However, that does not mean zero children. There are millions of children in famously shrinking "childless" countries like Japan. It's pretty much an evolutionary certainty that a certain percentage of any given society will have children. (Of course, US metropolitan areas are growing fairly rapidly, due to net migration from smaller towns, rural areas, and other countries.)