Slog - Comments on I Have No Way To Make This Post About Land Use Interesting to Those Uninterested In Land Use http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la ... So please accept, as my humble offering, this photo of Javier Bardem. (Note: I looked for a more beefcakey shot, but Bardem's chest is strangely hairless, and thus looks weird without a shirt.) Council member Sally Clark's land use committee meeting this morning started, as land use meetings typically do, with an outraged comment from a disgruntled citizen. The proposal in question: Legislation from the mayor's office that would raise the threshold for environmental review, effectively exempting some smaller developments (about 30 a year) from review under the State Environmental Policy Act. The change, Dennis Ross of the Admiral... Copyright 2008 Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:30:34 -0800 Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:18:29 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Will in Seattle This exemption for smaller developments will just be used to game the system - they'll set up say five limited partnerships to develop 20 lots, and pretend they're not all basically the same development.

Zoning for 40 to 100 story inexpensive mixed-income residential rental apartment buildings would make a lot more sense, especially near transit hubs.

]]> Will in Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c949971 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c949971 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:33:42 -0800 Comment by Uncle Vinny I tried to read this, really I did. But all I came away with is the thought, "How can I make my eyes look sleepy and sexy like Javier?" Land-use policy just doesn't enter into it...

]]> Uncle Vinny http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950011 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950011 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:47:03 -0800 Comment by Mr. Poe I hate it when men shave their chests.

Morons.

Oh, yeah. Land use. Rama rama ding dong.

]]> Mr. Poe http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950018 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950018 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:54:21 -0800 Comment by Wolf Bardem looks nuttsy regardless. Some chest hair isn't going to make him attractive.

]]> Wolf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950028 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950028 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:02:04 -0800 Comment by brandon he was so physically unappealing in "no country for old men" i'm rather shocked to find myself attracted to him now. i think the spoiler was the johnny ramone-lookin' bowl cut.

]]> brandon http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950036 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950036 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:06:40 -0800 Comment by Abby He looks like Luis Figo to me, and despite myself I love Luis Figo. So by extension I have goodwill towards Bardem.

Also, he was a rugby player in Spain. (Bardem, not Figo.) Which he compares to being a bullfighter in Japan.

]]> Abby http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950060 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950060 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:17:16 -0800 Comment by michael strangeways ECB finally GETS it; if you want to make a point on SLOG and get people to listen to you, post a picture of a hot man.

Javier Bardem is insanely sexy, but I would have to agree that shirtless is NOT his best look. He has a barrel chest and scraggly chest hair which is disappointing in a Spaniard. You expect them to have acres of luscious chest hair...

]]> michael strangeways http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950063 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950063 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:18:53 -0800 Comment by Fnarf Five limited partnerships to develop 20 lots is probably a GOOD thing. I'm a little confused by the sentence that ends this post, which describes developments that are "out-of-scale" but "too small".

It is just completely untrue to say that the kind of development that's going in now is aesthetically inferior to the similar developments that went in during the 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s. Seriously, look around you. The only reason people get bent out of shape about the new developments is because they're new. They don't even SEE the horrible beige boxes that went up in the 80s and 90s, or the dingbats that carpet huge swathes of Ballard from the 70s, because they're accustomed to them. This will happen with these new units too.

The thing that's really changed since the 70s is the willingness of meddlesome neighbors to stick their noses in other people's business. I guess that comes with rising valuations.

It is also completely false to suggest that development that is design-reviewed by any kind of citizen or city board is likely to be more attractive than development that hasn't. Quite the opposite, I would say; design boards have a terrible aesthetic track record. They might work in a city where a very specific design criteria needs to be defended, like oriel windows in San Francisco, but in a city like Seattle were the style that's being designed doesn't exist yet, design review is likely to create uglier buildings.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950073 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950073 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:24:22 -0800 Comment by SeMe Check out Javier doing 19 year old Penelope Cruz in Jamon, Jamon.

His character was named el Chorizo and Penelope's la hija de la puta.

Its one of his best "performances."

]]> SeMe http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950075 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950075 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:26:59 -0800 Comment by Little Bird (psst, Erica)

look at this in terms of how it affects historic preservation. Part of the SEPA checklist is going through landmarking designation. Most property owners do not want their buildings to go through Landmarks. Check it out.

If we care about historic preservation, we shouldn't change the SEPA threhold.

]]> Little Bird http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950152 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950152 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:11:43 -0800 Comment by unPC After we've historically designated the Market and a few nice churches and other good and beautiful things, and now that the Landmarks Board has indicated it will make things landmarks precisely because they are so ugly and crappy looking they are, um, landmarks of ugliness and crappiness, no, we don't care about historic preservation.
Next we'll hear they're preserving the entire set of Northgate Mall parking lots (very historic, as is sprawl generally, and used to give directions, etc.) and the sinking ship garage (a historic display that is meaningful architectural language (to wit, "we show our contempt for beauty and desire to uglify a historic block and neighborhood").

]]> unPC http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950188 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950188 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 17:45:19 -0800 Comment by pretentious ...aesthetically less appealing, agreed, but a hairless chest is much nicer to lick.

]]> pretentious http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950208 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950208 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:08:38 -0800 Comment by Fnarf Funny you should mention the sinking ship garage, unPC, since it is in fact the locus of the beginning of the historical preservation movement in this city -- the movement that saved Pioneer Square and the Market. They knocked down the Seattle Hotel to build it in 1961. Nice of you to advocate for more of that.

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950209 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950209 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:09:21 -0800 Comment by banjoboy How disgustingly sexist to use this man as a cheap decoration and make disparaging comments on the state of his chest...

]]> banjoboy http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950233 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950233 City Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:40:14 -0800 Comment by Miss Poppy Dixon Yum. Land use.

]]> Miss Poppy Dixon http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950486 http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/02/i_have_no_way_to_make_this_post_about_la#c950486 City Thu, 28 Feb 2008 05:18:29 -0800