Seattle is the smartest city in North America, according to the business magazine Fast Company.  The land of Boeing, Microsoft, Starbucks and Grunge moved into the top spot from last year’s third-place showing. Seattle led the pack in Smart Economy and Smart Government rankings while coming in second behind Washington, D.C. in the Smart People category. Recently Seattle made the top of some less flattering list like 4th worst traffic congestion, and one of the snobbiest cities. See the full list of Smartest Cities in North America here.

Alejandro Escovedo put on a fantastic show in front of a pact house at The Tractor Tavern in Seattle's Ballard neighborhood. The set list consisted of crowd favorites, some cover tunes and new material from his latest release Big Station. Alejandro kicked off the evening by dedicating the show to the late Lou Reed and closed the show with covers of The Velvet Underground's Sweet Jane and Mot The Hoople's All The Young Dudes

The Tom Tom traffic-data company has ranked Seattle 4th for the worst city in the U.S. for congestion. 

According to Tom Tom's annual study ....

* The average Seattle-area driver wastes 35 minutes in slowdowns for every hour on the road, during commute periods.

* Morning commute times are 48 percent longer than in free-flowing traffic, while afternoon commutes take 70 percent longer. On a 24-hour average, the delay is 25 percent.

* Wednesday mornings and Friday afternoons are the worst times to travel.

Los Angeles was listed as the most congested city in the U.S. 
Seattle was ranked as number 4 in the U.S. and 7 in the world.  Portland was ranked as 13th worst in the world and Rio DeJaneiro was number 1. The TomTom Index is used as a tool for city planners evaluating areas in need of upgrades or changes to improve traffic flow.