
How Our Success Is Ruining Seattle - deegles
http://jeffreifman.com/2015/07/09/how-success-is-ruining-seattle/?sdot
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newscloud
Thanks for posting this. It's also on Slashdot tonight:
[http://developers.slashdot.org/story/15/07/11/2255232/is-
the...](http://developers.slashdot.org/story/15/07/11/2255232/is-the-amazon-
led-economic-boom-wrecking-seattle) and on BB yesterday by Doctorow:
[http://boingboing.net/2015/07/10/how-seattles-economic-
boom-...](http://boingboing.net/2015/07/10/how-seattles-economic-boom-i.html)

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MCRed
Seattle has had an anti-growth strategy going on 20 years now, and the State
as well as City have been terribly mismanaged for at least that long.

Housing prices go up when you cannot build more housing units while population
increases. When the state gets any money-- the dotcom boom is a perfect
example- they spend like crazy, and not on things that add lasting value
(transportation was a trivial part of the state's budget) ... then when the
boom times end or slow down, the state has the same spending as before,
without putting any reserves in. So they end up raising taxes.

It's the standard "let the roads suck so you can get people to vote for a tax
increase, even though road spending is less than %1 of the budget." routine.

Seattle is geographically challenged with the sound, lake union and the
mountains compressing the amount of room available... yet you can't build
housing on a scale that makes it affordable?

Lets not even mention the fact that Seattle has been overrun with califronia
liberals who have bought real estate and profit from the rapid increase in
costs... so long as supply is way below demand their houses go up in value
each year.

They pretend to be about "keeping a good community" but really they profit
from their anti-growth position.

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dispossess
So if I read the linked story correctly, the Amazon bro brigade called in the
patriarchy to destroy Seattle for the real natives. They are also responsible
for an increase in prostitution and associated drug crimes. Hate crimes are
somehow their fault too.

It has nothing to do with progressive anti-growth policies enacted by the
state and city governments. What I really love is the appeal for more
progressives in government to fix the problem.

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jinushaun
No, Seattle "died" when a bunch of people moved from California and Almost
Live was no longer culturally relevant. Outside people trying to recreate
California with California problems. Tech lynch mobbing is lynch mobbing.

