Hmmmmmm.......Interesting

[Brett327]

To shine a light on the mindset of some here, I heard a story this week about developers bid to construct a large convention hotel downtown. Opposition groups cite lack of affordable housing downtown and that a hotel doesn't maximize benefit to the public - as though the developer is going to change their mind and build shitty low rent housing. There is a very vocal faction here that is completely detached from reality or a basic understanding of economics. I attribute some of that to the Nordic egalitarian mindset that is pervasive in the Seattle culture.

 

[jmcquate]

To shine a light on the mindset of some here, I heard a story this week about developers bid to construct a large convention hotel downtown. Opposition groups cite lack of affordable housing downtown and that a hotel doesn't maximize benefit to the public - as though the developer is going to change their mind and build shitty low rent housing. There is a very vocal faction here that is completely detached from reality or a basic understanding of economics. I attribute some of that to the Nordic egalitarian mindset that is pervasive in the Seattle culture.

The new HUD Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regs have made that detachment from reality federal law.

 

[exNavyOffRec]

An unnecessary obsession with consensus, unanimity, and giving everyone their chance to hold hands, sing "Kumbaya," and talk about their feelings prior to starting any public works project. Per the quote in Wikipedia below, "circular consultation reaching indecision." Exhibit A: the Alaskan Way Viaduct was crippled in the Nisqually Earthquake in 2001, and 14 years later, Bertha is stuck under Pioneer Square.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle_process

I am pretty sure the Seattle planners have unicorns and rainbows in their drawings, the problem in unicorns aren't good at building tunnels, Seattle will get much worse before it gets better.

 

[wink]

The new HUD Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing regs have made that detachment from reality federal law.

Props for being on top of that! Everyone should take a look at the Texas Dept of Housing v. Inclusive Community Project Supreme Court decision this last term. Most folks have no idea. They focused on gay marriage and ObamaCare. It kicks the HUD AFFH into overdirve. This decision will probably bring Seattle style planning, and worse to every city in America.

 

[Flash]

Props for being on top of that! Everyone should take a look at the Texas Dept of Housing v. Inclusive Community Project Supreme Court decision this last term. Most folks have no idea. They focused on gay marriage and ObamaCare. It kicks the HUD AFFH into overdirve. This decision will probably bring Seattle style planning, and worse to every city in America.

I think that is a bit hyperbolic, I imagine developers and their lawyers will figure out how to accommodate that decision without too much difficulty.

 

[wink]

I think that is a bit hyperbolic, I imagine developers and their lawyers will figure out how to accommodate that decision without too much difficulty.

We might hope so, but it was hardly hyperbolic. It isn't about commercial development where profit motivates companies to find a way around things. We are talking federally required changes to zoning laws and local housing development plans to ensure equitable OUTCOMES to the poor and minorities. To accommodate that, we will see far more complicated and expensive planning processes to ensure compliance and prevent law suites from the Justice Department. Thanks to the TX Dept of Housing majority opinion, it is no longer simply a matter of having color blind or objectively non discriminatory rules. There MUST be non disparate outcomes. That means a bedroom community that does not zone for apartments or requires a certain minimum lot size, effectively keeping the value of housing high and preventing more modest income people from moving there, is required to change the entire nature of their town, or get sued by the feds. The supreme court case in question was about where money to improve housing for the poor was spent. TX wanted to spend the money improving neighborhoods where people were living, worked and had children in schools. The were challenged by an organization that effectively said that money must be spent building housing for the poor in more affluent neighborhoods, in part because those neighborhoods were not integrated enough in race or income level. TX lost. This disparate outcome standard may come to be applied to many aspects of our lives. It certainly will be if the make up of the Supreme Court leans more liberal (DEM President). The Constitution guarantees equal treatment under the law, not equal or even fair outcomes.

Although we sometimes differ on the ultimate opinions we draw, I highly respect your ability to research and analyze complex and voluminous documents. Not saying you should waste your time, but if you did give this more thorough analysis including the judicial history, and regulatory plans of this administration, you would find the TX decision just a bit more concerning then you do now.

 

[KilroyUSN]

And I wish there were a bridge off the south end of Whidbey Island, but there isn't and until they retire a few more carriers....there won't be.

I'll offer the same thought that was passed along by a sage old man some years ago to ENS RLSO.... "If you're complaining about traffic on the way to work, leave your house earlier," but you probably knew that...

I was specifically talking about the traffic from work and I would rather sit in traffic than stay at work to miss it, even if traffic was from 3pm until 6pm.

As far as the (My daughter insists these are called 'rainbow eyes' and not rolling her eyes) for saying he was stationed in Washington... I grew up in Seattle and north of Seattle (Arlington, just a skip away from Whidbey) and then I was stationed in Bangor and later Bremerton. That was a jab at the idea that Whidbey is "Washington". Anyone who has been stationed there I am sure would agree that it represents "Washington" only slightly better than Eastern Washington.