The situation in Seattle is the worst of capitalist inequality.
When the city stopped policing drug crime, the tech companies responded by starting their own bus services so that employees wouldn't have to ride the metro. Wherever a shuttle stop popped up, the rents would skyrocket and existing tenants would be driven out by tech workers. This bred a lot of homelessness and resentment.
The problems in Seattle ultimately boil down to the city council not pressing hard enough for affordable housing. Seattle has EXTREMELY nimby-ish zoning laws that were making it basically impossible for developers to build apartments. Since the city is space constrained by the bay and the mountains, they basically have no option but to go high density high rises but those are too expensive for affordable housing. The sort of cheap, 3-4 story wood apartments they need to keep prices low will mean shifting zoning in single family home areas.
I thought only Microsoft had the shuttles because there wasn't good transit between Seattle and the Eastside. Did the other companies start doing shuttles too?
I can understand why people in Seattle go NIMBY and don't want the apartments, because they look like shit and completely change the aesthetics of the neighborhood. Same reason why they don't like when people do teardowns and build those godawful rectangle houses.
But they should at least be honest that their decisions effectively keep the city a playground for rich people and people who bought before the Tech boom.
The state has told them they HAVE to start increasing zoning density around the light rail stations but they've been slow to do even that. The areas east of Beacon Hill are ideal for upzoning but even years after the light rail's installation it remains mostly single family or small apartments. What new building has happened is mostly condos, which only further drive up housing costs.
Yep, and the thing is it won't be fixed anytime soon.
It will take a generation to fix the housing problems in Seattle and frankly I don't think the tech industry will wait that long. Boeing can't move, but Amazon could move anywhere they can buy an office tower.
It took a quarter century for Detroit to die; when it happens to Seattle it'll only take a couple years.
The situation in Seattle is the worst of capitalist inequality.
When the city stopped policing drug crime, the tech companies responded by starting their own bus services so that employees wouldn't have to ride the metro. Wherever a shuttle stop popped up, the rents would skyrocket and existing tenants would be driven out by tech workers. This bred a lot of homelessness and resentment.
The problems in Seattle ultimately boil down to the city council not pressing hard enough for affordable housing. Seattle has EXTREMELY nimby-ish zoning laws that were making it basically impossible for developers to build apartments. Since the city is space constrained by the bay and the mountains, they basically have no option but to go high density high rises but those are too expensive for affordable housing. The sort of cheap, 3-4 story wood apartments they need to keep prices low will mean shifting zoning in single family home areas.
I thought only Microsoft had the shuttles because there wasn't good transit between Seattle and the Eastside. Did the other companies start doing shuttles too?
I can understand why people in Seattle go NIMBY and don't want the apartments, because they look like shit and completely change the aesthetics of the neighborhood. Same reason why they don't like when people do teardowns and build those godawful rectangle houses.
But they should at least be honest that their decisions effectively keep the city a playground for rich people and people who bought before the Tech boom.
Yes, Amazon started up a shuttle as well.
The state has told them they HAVE to start increasing zoning density around the light rail stations but they've been slow to do even that. The areas east of Beacon Hill are ideal for upzoning but even years after the light rail's installation it remains mostly single family or small apartments. What new building has happened is mostly condos, which only further drive up housing costs.
Yep, and the thing is it won't be fixed anytime soon.
It will take a generation to fix the housing problems in Seattle and frankly I don't think the tech industry will wait that long. Boeing can't move, but Amazon could move anywhere they can buy an office tower.
It took a quarter century for Detroit to die; when it happens to Seattle it'll only take a couple years.