US House Redistricting: Washington

[Linus Van Pelt]

Afternoon rush hour starting on the west coast:



LOL

[cinyc]

My friend who was pulling an all-nighter watched it periodically from 6 to 8 for me, and said she mostly saw big trucks.

I'm not sure why we're bothering to watch road traffic cameras over the pass when county employment data is readily available from the Census bureau:
http://lehdmap.did.census.gov/

Assuming I don't have this backwards, 16.3% of Kittitas County residents (on the other side of Snoqualamie Pass) work in King County, the most of any county other than Kittitas.  6.8% of people working in Kittitas County live in King County, behind Kittitas and Yakima counties.

Again, assiming I have this right, outside of the county, 789 of Kittitas county residents' primary job was in Seattle, 641 in Yakima, 270 in Bellevue and 153 in Spokane, among others.

[jimrtex]

My friend who was pulling an all-nighter watched it periodically from 6 to 8 for me, and said she mostly saw big trucks.

The traffic count at North Bend is over twice that at the Kittitas-Grant line.

[bgwah]

I'm sorry, but that just doesn't seem like a significant number of commuters to me. I grew up in East King County, and have done dozens of trips through the pass... It's like entering a different world, the transition from West to East is quite rapid. That's just my personal opinion, but I'm probably the only frequent poster who has ever lived in the area, so there! I'm not saying there is some "connection" between Vancouver and Yakima, but that's always where they've done it before. The 4th district included Vancouver in the 1970s, IIRC.

[jimrtex]

My friend who was pulling an all-nighter watched it periodically from 6 to 8 for me, and said she mostly saw big trucks.

I'm not sure why we're bothering to watch road traffic cameras over the pass when county employment data is readily available from the Census bureau:
http://lehdmap.did.census.gov/

Assuming I don't have this backwards, 16.3% of Kittitas County residents (on the other side of Snoqualamie Pass) work in King County, the most of any county other than Kittitas.  6.8% of people working in Kittitas County live in King County, behind Kittitas and Yakima counties.

Again, assiming I have this right, outside of the county, 789 of Kittitas county residents' primary job was in Seattle, 641 in Yakima, 270 in Bellevue and 153 in Spokane, among others.

According to the 2000 census about 8% of Kittitasian workers work in King County.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/commuting/mcdworkerflow.html#WA

Here is an interesting trivia.  There are two counties in Washington where the number one county of employment is not the county of residence.  What are the two counties.

[RI]

According to the 2000 census about 8% of Kittitasian workers work in King County.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/commuting/mcdworkerflow.html#WA

Here is an interesting trivia.  There are two counties in Washington where the number one county of employment is not the county of residence.  What are the two counties.

Really? I didn't see any.

[cinyc]

According to the 2000 census about 8% of Kittitasian workers work in King County.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/commuting/mcdworkerflow.html#WA

Here is an interesting trivia.  There are two counties in Washington where the number one county of employment is not the county of residence.  What are the two counties.

Really? I didn't see any.

There were at least two.  One was on a state border, the other across a river from a bigger town.  It's still true in 2009.

[RI]

According to the 2000 census about 8% of Kittitasian workers work in King County.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/commuting/mcdworkerflow.html#WA

Here is an interesting trivia.  There are two counties in Washington where the number one county of employment is not the county of residence.  What are the two counties.

Really? I didn't see any.

There were at least two.  One was on a state border, the other across a river from a bigger town.  It's still true in 2009.

There are two different spreadsheets, I noticed. On the second spreadsheet (the work county origin one) there weren't any. The two counties your referring to are on the first spreadsheet (Asotion and Douglas).

[jimrtex]

According to the 2000 census about 8% of Kittitasian workers work in King County.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/commuting/mcdworkerflow.html#WA

Here is an interesting trivia.  There are two counties in Washington where the number one county of employment is not the county of residence.  What are the two counties.

Really? I didn't see any.

There were at least two.  One was on a state border, the other across a river from a bigger town.  It's still true in 2009.

Both are across a river from a larger town.

[bgwah]

My guess would be Clark (more working in Multnomah) and uh, with the river hint, maybe Franklin (with more working in Benton)?

If not Clark, a more tricky answer might be Asotin. A lot of those folks work in Lewiston, ID.

[cinyc]

According to the 2000 census about 8% of Kittitasian workers work in King County.

http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/commuting/mcdworkerflow.html#WA

Here is an interesting trivia.  There are two counties in Washington where the number one county of employment is not the county of residence.  What are the two counties.

Really? I didn't see any.

There were at least two.  One was on a state border, the other across a river from a bigger town.  It's still true in 2009.

Both are across a river from a larger town.

True.  But one is in another state.

[RI]

You can check my post if you want the answer.

[bgwah]

I came so close to mentioning Douglas. Drat.

[jimrtex]

My guess would be Clark (more working in Multnomah) and uh, with the river hint, maybe Franklin (with more working in Benton)?

If not Clark, a more tricky answer might be Asotin. A lot of those folks work in Lewiston, ID.

Asotin is one correct answer.

It is actually pretty hard for a substantial suburban area to have more of its working outside the county than in it.  Most of its school teachers, garbage collectors, doctors, and grocery clerks will also live in the county.  If it is a small county, it might not have much internal economic activity, such as stores and doctors.  So in this case it helps that Clarkston is smaller than Lewiston.

Stevens has a pretty surprising share of its residents employed in Spokane County but its not really suburban.

The other county is also across a river from its employment destination.

[Sounder]

Here is another attempt at a Central Cascades 10th district. This version crosses the Cascades via three all-season mountain passes (Snoqualmie, Stevens, & White) as well as seasonal Chinook Pass.  I tried to cut out as much inner suburban Puget Sound and to stick as close to the mountains as possible.  Lacey is the exception.  East Wenatchee stays with Wenatchee, but Selah and the highlands get cut away from Yakima, but is a clean split due to geography.

  I also had to adjust the 4th and 5th back to the old horizontal rectangles.  Moses Lake is the epicenter of the split between those districts.   The populations of all 10 districts are within 94 people of having 672,453 total population.




The 9th follows the Highline (plateau west of Valley) down to Tacoma adding it and the older inner suburbs.  The 8th is bounded by the valley to the west and becomes a more compact suburban district.  The new 10th is predominantly rural and peripheral suburban.  Enumclaw (NASCAR racers, Horses), rural Spanaway (Daytona 500 winner), Roy (Rodeo), Monroe (race track), etc.  

 

[Sounder]

I'm not sure what you mean by "Google is in the 1st and 7th"?

That's the Congressional Districts where Google is physically located.   The area between Wenatchee and Quincy is becoming a major data center hub.  T-Mobile is another one there.

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The are more connections and commonalities between Cascade mountain towns than there are between Clark County and the Yakima Valley.  Hardly anyone lives or uses the Columbia River connection (on the Washington side of the river, other than freight trains).  Meanwhile a significant chunk of the new population east of the Mountains in the Central Cascades are former Puget Sound area residents and there is a decent amount a commuters and connectivity up there.  There is little to none between Vancouver and Yakima.  

[Sounder]

There are traffic cameras on the pass.  It's your job to check it out tomorrow morning and afternoon.

The person I know who does the cross Cascades commute works M-Th, so you won't see him up on the pass until 7:30 PM. 

Since we are monitoring Snoqualmie Pass, any volunteers to monitor Satus Pass? 

[Sounder]

I'm sorry, but that just doesn't seem like a significant number of commuters to me.

You are looking at it from whale King County point of view.  Minnow Kittitas is heavily dependent on King County, not vice versa.  Since the new district needs to be a predominately Western district (opposite of 1970), why not link the portions of Eastern Washington with the most connectivity with Western Washington? 

[Sounder]

The other county is also across a river from its employment destination.

It could be Douglas County, depending on if the aluminum plant is in operation.

[Verily]

There are traffic cameras on the pass.  It's your job to check it out tomorrow morning and afternoon.

The person I know who does the cross Cascades commute works M-Th, so you won't see him up on the pass until 7:30 PM.  

Since we are monitoring Snoqualmie Pass, any volunteers to monitor Satus Pass?  

The point was not that people commute over Satus Pass but do not commute over Snoqualmie Pass. Commutes were never mentioned by anyone until you came along, and we have now clearly demonstrated that no one commutes over either pass. (Well, no one has monitored Satus Pass, but it can be safely assumed.)

The point was that Centralia and Vancouver have a lot more in common with Yakima than Bellevue has with Ellensburg in terms of shared interests and demographics, a point you have yet to even make a serious attempt to refute.

[minionofmidas]

...let alone Wenatchee.

[Sounder]

The point was not that people commute over Satus Pass but do not commute over Snoqualmie Pass. Commutes were never mentioned by anyone until you came along, and we have now clearly demonstrated that no one commutes over either pass.

The discussion is linking population centers within a congressional district via Snoqualmie Pass or via Satus Pass as I have yet to see anyone propose gutting up Kennewick and Richland yet.   Facts show people indeed commute over Snoqualmie Pass.  A small number, but a significant % for a smaller populated county.

Since it is Satus vs. Snoqualmie, let's compare.  

So how many commuters over Satus Pass?  I can link data and news articles talking about the Snoqualmie commute.

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That's bunk.  I live here.  Vancouver and Centralia have very few connections with Yakima.  Meanwhile Ellensburg is home to a sizable amount of King County students and a sizable portion of Kittitas County's population commutes to King County.  Kittitas County is heavily dependant on King County.   Meanwhile Clark and Yakima are practically on different planets since these is so much rugged wilderness desolation and poor roads between the two.

[cinyc]

The point was not that people commute over Satus Pass but do not commute over Snoqualmie Pass. Commutes were never mentioned by anyone until you came along, and we have now clearly demonstrated that no one commutes over either pass.

The discussion is linking population centers within a congressional district via Snoqualmie Pass or via Satus Pass as I have yet to see anyone propose gutting up Kennewick and Richland yet.   Facts show people indeed commute over Snoqualmie Pass.  A small number, but a significant % for a smaller populated county.

Since it is Satus vs. Snoqualmie, let's compare.  

So how many commuters over Satus Pass?  I can link data and news articles talking about the Snoqualmie commute.

Again, you don't need to watch traffic cameras.  Census has the data.  Only 3.4% of Klickitat County residents worked in Yakima County in 2009.  Believe it or not, more actually worked in King County (5.9%).   No, I have no clue who they might be. 

[Verily]

Presumably the 6% who work in King County but are residents of Klickitat County own second homes in Klickitat but claim residence/fill out their Census forms at those homes (but really live somewhere in King County, or maybe a few on Bainbridge Island or Snohomish or Pierce Counties). Probably true of the tiny proportion of Kittitas residents who claim to work in King County, too.

[Sounder]

From 2000:

http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20001016&slug=TTMB1UN0H

From 2004:

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/196639_longcommute25.html?dpfrom=thead