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The Stranger, Seattle's Only Newspaper: Slog: Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/ Seattle's #1 Weekly Newspaper. Covering Seattle news, politics, music, film, and arts; plus movie times, club calendars, restaurant listings, forums, blogs, and Savage Love. en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. editor@thestranger.com (The Stranger Editor) webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Sun, 19 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sun, 19 May 2013 05:45:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Watch the aPodment Hearing! http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/18/watch-the-apodment-hearing http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/18/watch-the-apodment-hearing Dominic Holden <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/4fb8/1366312305-tom_rasmussen.jpg" alt="tom_rasmussen.jpg" title="" width="500" height="280" /></div></p> <p>The Seattle City Council is holding a hearing on the <strong>controversial issue of micro-housing</strong> (also known as aPodments), in which small units share a common kitchen. It's a brown-bag lunch hearing—I brought peanut M&Ms—but I should have brought a bento box.</p> <p>Watch <a href="http://www.seattlechannel.org/viewer_live.asp">LIVE HERE</a>.</p> <p><strong>In brief</strong>: These units provide <strong>affordable housing without any subsidies</strong>. However, neighborhood groups around the city are complaining about them as "changing the neighborhood character" with "<strong>sketchy people</strong>" and "<strong>transients</strong>." They also don't like that there's no public input in the permitting process. So Council Member Tom Rasmussen has hijacked his own transportation committee meeting—which normally would have nothing to do with housing regulations—to advance new restrictions and possibly a moratorium on aPodments.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/18/watch-the-apodment-hearing#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16528227&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/18/watch-the-apodment-hearing?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16528227&id=comments 28 Watch the aPodment Hearing! Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:36:35 -0700 The Stranger How to Make SLU an Affordable Neighborhood http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/09/how-to-make-slu-an-affordable-neighborhood http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/09/how-to-make-slu-an-affordable-neighborhood Nick Licata <p><small><em>This guest post is by Seattle City Council member Nick Licata, who chairs the council's Housing, Human Services, Health, and Culture Committee. </em></small></p> <p>Would you like to live in a neighborhood that has many job opportunities, good public transit, a grocery store, a huge public park and interesting restaurants? If you say yes, then move to <strong>South Lake Union</strong> (SLU) —if you can afford it. And there is the crux of the problem that the Seattle City Council must address: Can we make SLU affordable to those of us who would like to live in a nice neighborhood in Seattle, not in Renton or Kent? The answer is—YES WE CAN. And here is how.</p> <p>It’s straightforward: In exchange for the city upzoning land in SLU, which in most cases will increase the property owners’ wealth by millions of dollars, the public receives a benefit by requiring the development of that land to contain a percentage of affordable housing. How affordable? I’m proposing that an affordable <strong>one bedroom apartment be offered for rent at $975 for a person earning $36,000 a year or less</strong>. The mayor and other council members are proposing that a one bedroom rent for $1,200 for those earning up to $45,000. I’m guessing that there are a number of young people and recent immigrants just starting out, that earn less than $36,000, who would appreciate living in South Lake Union.</p> <p>Other cities make similar requirements of their developers; over 250 cities in California do so. We say we want our workers to live in Seattle. Most large cities with a higher percentage of their workers living in their city than Seattle, also have such requirements. Makes sense. Affordable housing <strong>allows workers to live in the city</strong> and not have to commute miles away, dependent on public transportation or purchasing a car and getting caught in traffic congestion—not to mention contributing to carbon emissions and global warming.</p> <p><strong>This is how it would work</strong>: Increasing affordable housing units in SLU, or anywhere in the city for that matter, is done by adjusting an incentive program. The programs obligates landowners who take advantage of an upzone to their property to provide a percentage of affordable housing units. The mayor and other council proposals provide less than <strong>5 percent</strong> of the total residential floor area to be devoted to affordable housing, whether it is built on site or off site of the rezoned land. <strong>My proposal in comparison requires 10 percent</strong> for on site development or the equivalent of 15 percent for off site development. The increase in fees to developers allocated to building affordable housing consequently would increase from a high of $22 per gross square foot to $96. Both are applied to 60 percent of the new construction that takes place on their upzoned lot. In comparison San Francisco’s fee is over $300, and their real estate market continues to grow at a faster pace than ours.</p> <p>So, what’s stopping us?</p> <p>The fear that developers will not take advantage of the upzoned property; SLU will not see development. That’s what the for-profit developers tell us. Independent financial consultants hired by the City, who do not have an investment in SLU, tell us differently. There is an opportunity before us today to <strong>tap into the $12 billion in new SLU development</strong> that will occur over the next 25 years. The Mayor in effect has said, “hold on partner let’s not rush,” and formed an advisory group, including a number of for-profit developers, to come back to him at the end of the year to sit down and talk about it a bunch more. In the meantime, if we don’t act now, more than $2 million in affordable housing funds will be lost. WE CAN DO BETTER.</p> <p>The city council is carefully moving in the direction of making some modest requirements of the developers, to the tune of providing about <strong>$600,000 for affordable housing</strong>. I support that effort, but I believe <strong>we should go for the $2.7 million</strong> which would be achievable if we adopt a requirement that is much more in tune in meeting our own projected demands for affordable housing in SLU: where we expect over 50,000 workers by 2031. Currently we are short of our affordable housing goal by 1,700 units and it will grow to over 2,800, even with the other proposals being brought forward.</p> <p>It’s time that Seattle recognizes it is a major city: being the sixth hottest real estate market in the nation. Seattle needs a future that allows our current and future residents an opportunity to live in the city.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/09/how-to-make-slu-an-affordable-neighborhood#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16453408&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/09/how-to-make-slu-an-affordable-neighborhood?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16453408&id=comments 69 Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:11:58 -0700 The Stranger Seattle's Apartment Market http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/seattles-apartment-market http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/seattles-apartment-market Dominic Holden <p>Even worse than you thought:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/da5f/1365441014-good_luck__renters.jpg" alt="good_luck__renters.jpg" title="" width="500" height="375" /></div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/seattles-apartment-market#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16446366&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/04/08/seattles-apartment-market?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16446366&id=comments 18 Seattle's Apartment Market Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:12:31 -0700 The Stranger Neighbors Who Risk Losing Space Needle View Speak Up in Favor of aPodments http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/28/neighbors-who-risk-losing-space-needle-view-speak-up-in-favor-of-apodements http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/28/neighbors-who-risk-losing-space-needle-view-speak-up-in-favor-of-apodements Dominic Holden <p>Capitol Hill resident Charles Drabkin is surrounded by a community waging war to stop the surge of affordable housing aPodments, in which tenants share a kitchen. The way these things are permitted, there's no community notice, there's no lengthy design jury taking public input to delay the project, and there's no requirement to provide parking. Neighborhood community councils say it's too much density—and too many transient poor renters—for neighborhoods to handle. But Drabkin disagrees in a letter he sent this week to the Seattle City Council and <em>The Stranger</em>:</p> <blockquote><p>Council Members,</p> <p>I am writing today to ask you two things first and foremost to support additional affordable micro-housing here in Seattle. </p> <p>My husband and I are long time residents of Capitol Hill and in fact have a <strong>micro-housing project being built directly behind our townhouse</strong> (12th btwn Denny &Howell). These units will undoubtedly block our view of the Space Needle. I must tell you I don't care. The reason I live in the city is not because I cherish a glimpse of the Needle but because I <strong>love density and diversity</strong>.<br /> <br />These units will bring a large and diverse group of people to my neighborhood assuring that The Hill I love continues to have artist, restaurant workers, elderly and anyone who <strong>doesn’t want to spend $1,000/month on rent</strong> to continue to live in our neighborhood. When I first moved to The Hill 20 years ago this would have been a great option for me, if rents had been as high as they are today.<br /> <br />Additionally more people will bring more services, restaurants and shopping to the area making it a better place to live.<br /> <br />I would also urge you to have any public meeting on this housing during the evening when those of us who work will be able to attend. I know you are <strong>going to hear from many NIMBY activists bemoaning these projects</strong>, and I am all for making sure that we get good regulations to ensure environmental impact reviews etc... but a moratorium is not the answer.<br /> <br />Thank you for your consideration.<br /> <br />Charles Drabkin</p></blockquote> <p>Good for Charles. </p> <p>On Tuesday night, the Seattle Community Council Federation, an umbrella coalition of neighborhood groups, voted unanimously on a resolution asking the council to pass a strict moratorium on these aPodments. The Capitol Hill Community Council, a Laurelhurst group, and several other community organizations have also called to halt their construction completely. But they don't speak for everyone. Lots of people appreciate that aPodments create affordable housing that requires zero subsidies or incentives, and they don't buy into <strong>scare tactics</strong> that these buildings somehow won't last as long as other new construction, that the residents are sketchy, or that working-class renters aren't part of their neighborhood community. It's important for the council see that opponents, organized and wealthy though they may be, don't actually speak for the entire city. Lots of people who don't spend their lives in a sewing circle kvetching about "transient renters" believe that we should be building housing people can afford. The council needs to hear from more people like this.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/28/neighbors-who-risk-losing-space-needle-view-speak-up-in-favor-of-apodements#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16343692&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/28/neighbors-who-risk-losing-space-needle-view-speak-up-in-favor-of-apodements?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16343692&id=comments 49 Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:27:18 -0700 The Stranger Tiny Apartments Are America's Future http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/26/tiny-apartments-are-americas-future http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/26/tiny-apartments-are-americas-future Dominic Holden <p>Vanessa Wong at <em><a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-03-14/micro-apartments-in-the-big-city-a-trend-builds?campaign_id=bw.taboola.hp">Business Week</a></em>:</p> <blockquote><p>Micro-apartments, in some cases <strong>smaller than college dorm rooms</strong>, are cropping up in North American cities as urban planners experiment with new types of housing to accommodate growing numbers of single professionals, students, and the elderly. Single-person households made up 26.7 percent of the U.S. total in 2010, vs. 17.6 percent in 1970, according to Census Bureau data. In cities, the proportion is often higher: In New York, it’s about 33 percent. And these boîtes aren’t just for singles. The idea is to be more efficient and eventually to offer cheaper rents.</p> <p>To foster innovation, several municipalities are <strong>waiving zoning regulations to allow construction</strong> of smaller dwellings at select sites. </p></blockquote> <p>Is Seattle running toward micro-apartments like these other sensible cities? Will our elected leaders embrace this trend to affordably house workers in the city? No way. They're running away. Although Seattle doesn't have some of the preexisting restrictions that prevent small apartments in the first place, as far as I can tell, that's not stopping Seattle City Council member Tom Rasmussen from pushing for new restrictions that <strong>make 'em harder to build</strong>. Rasmussen floated a potential moratorium on aPodments—a form of affordable, small housing in which residents share a kitchen—and now the council is indulging a neighborhood campaign against the high-density housing for the working class.</p> <p>The council is holding a hearing on micro-housing developments on April 18 specifically "in response to <strong>questions and concerns raised in several Seattle neighborhoods</strong>," according to a council press release.</p> <p>When is the council's NIMBY-oriented hearing? At 11:30 a.m. on a weekday. </p> <p>Critics say that's a time when neighborhood busybodies can pack City Hall but a time <strong>when workers are at work</strong>. So, in an e-mail to the council, Pinehurst neighborhood activist Renee Staton asked if "we will be able to hear from all stakeholders if the meeting is held in City Hall during a time that most people are working." She suggested the meeting be held in the evening. </p> <p>My advice to the council: You should only agree to an evening meeting if want to give micro-housing a fair shake.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/26/tiny-apartments-are-americas-future#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16338315&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/26/tiny-apartments-are-americas-future?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16338315&id=comments 43 Tue, 26 Mar 2013 06:43:24 -0700 The Stranger Seattle Needs to Welcome Growth and Get Over Itself http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/22/seattle-needs-to-welcome-growth-and-get-over-itself http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/22/seattle-needs-to-welcome-growth-and-get-over-itself Roger Valdez <p><em><small>This guest post is by Roger Valdez, director of <a href="http://www.smartgrowthseattle.org/">Smart Growth Seattle</a>, a group supporting more housing in Seattle.</small></em></p> <p>There are three types of land use that have generated lots of discussion and debate about <strong>how and whether Seattle grows</strong> in the next 20 years: zoning in South Lake Union; small, affordable apartments; and infill development. Who will control this growth? Who will determine how much housing will cost? How much will we build? Where will that growth happen?</p> <p>We simply <strong>can’t and shouldn’t micromanage coming growth</strong>, trying to control the price of every apartment, the roofline of every new home, and the siding and color of every new apartment building. Trying to do that will slow growth, having the effect of lowering housing supply, increasing the costs to accommodate new people, and, in the end, increasing housing prices. And remember, dense cities are better for the environment, more efficiently using land, energy, aggregating demand for transit, and creating fewer climate-changing emissions per capita than sprawl.</p> <p>Seattle has got to move beyond the confused notion that we can make the city more affordable and livable by imposing <strong>price controls</strong> on rental housing and trying to have a hand in the design and particulars of every new development. We’re a big city, too big to be acting like a couple rearranging furniture in their new apartment.</p> <p>The broad outlines of <strong>what we need to do</strong> are pretty simple if leaders in the city can steer the debate in a different direction:</p> <p><strong>Lower Housing Prices</strong>: If we decide that housing prices are too high, then we need to increase supply (grant more building permits) and lower barriers and costs by reducing regulations and rules. Adding more process, imposing fees on new housing, and reviewing design won’t help lower prices—it will cause them to go up. A recent <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/21/business/economy/in-us-surprise-housing-demand-catches-industry-off-guard.html?smid=fb-share"><em>New York Times</em> story</a> reported that falling housing supply and increasing demand for housing is leading to rising prices. Nationwide prices went up 7.3 percent in 2012. "After six years of waiting on the sidelines, newly eager home buyers across the country are discovering that there are not enough houses for sale to accommodate the recent flush of demand," the paper reported.</p> <p><strong>Expand Choices</strong>: We need lots of choices for housing—from small, affordable apartments and cottages to new single-family homes. Singling out one form or another and bashing it doesn’t help. If it provides safe, healthy shelter and someone is willing to pay for it, we should permit it and let it get built.</p> <p><strong>Define Affordability</strong>: We need a better definition of affordability. I’ve suggested one called the Residual Income Model that would consider broader measures to determine what factors are making it more expensive to live in the city. Monthly housing price is only a slice of the costs of living in the city, if we can appreciably lower other costs—such as child care, health costs, and transportation—we can make it more affordable to live here. Putting price caps on housing will discourage new building and result in, surprise, higher prices.</p> <p><strong>Welcome Growth</strong>: We need to get over our selves. Yes, change is difficult. That new house or building going in down the block might end up being ugly and full of felons. That’s a risk we’re going to have to take. And in the end, the buildings and people will be just fine. We’ll forget what used to be there before and we’ll say “hello” to the new people and sit next to them on the bus. Growth means jobs, people, and more housing and buildings. These are all positive things in the end and are the things that make a city.</p> <p>We will not make our city affordable by imposing price controls on a few units of housing. We will not “grow with grace” by <strong>fiddling with the details</strong> on every single new project or zoning change that is proposed. Yes, process is important, but too much is making us look like we’re a group of insular, suspicious people afraid of change. We need to stop using code language like “good density” and “density done right” the way gun nuts use “states rights” to mask their immoral support of open air gun markets.</p> <p>More supply and choice in the housing market will make our city accessible and affordable to more and different kinds of people. We are an open-minded people, aren’t we? Didn’t we get all excited at the hope and change offered by Obama? What happened to that? We are going to be fine. We need to relax and <strong>welcome change</strong>. It won’t hurt a bit. I promise.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/22/seattle-needs-to-welcome-growth-and-get-over-itself#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16310958&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/22/seattle-needs-to-welcome-growth-and-get-over-itself?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16310958&id=comments 60 Fri, 22 Mar 2013 09:16:58 -0700 The Stranger Conlin: Focus Housing for Poor in Cheaper South Seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/21/conlin-focus-housing-for-poor-in-cheaper-south-seattle http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/21/conlin-focus-housing-for-poor-in-cheaper-south-seattle Dominic Holden <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:492px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/457e/1363899726-conlin.jpg" alt="conlin.jpg" title="" width="480" height="348" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Via Seattle Channel</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p>Advocates for low-income housing are outraged by comments made on the Seattle City Council dais on Monday, comments they say are thinly veiled suggestions that Seattle <strong>"redline" the poor into designated ghettos</strong>. Council Member Richard Conlin made the case to his colleagues for focusing subsidized housing "along the light rail line in Rainier Valley" where it's cheaper to build instead of the "very hot neighborhood" of South Lake Union, where potential new zoning rules will actually generate the money to build that low-income housing.</p> <p>Philippa Nye, of Ally Community Development, was the first to speak at a comment period, denouncing the idea: "Having everyone commute from Rainier Valley or Rainier Beach <strong>feels like housing segregation to me</strong>."</p> <p>She was hardly alone—I heard from several people this week. "Having council suggest redlining and segregation is part of Seattle's future <strong>makes my stomach hurt</strong>," says Rebecca Saldaña, a program director of the housing advocacy nonprofit Puget Sound Sage. How the city should use resources generated by allowing taller buildings is an age-old dispute—one we saw seven years ago when the council allowed taller buildings in the adjacent Denny Triangle neighborhood and downtown—and raises a key question of urban planning: Are the wealthy entitled to monopolize an enclave of the central city while <strong>workers are expelled to the outskirts?</strong></p> <p>The issue came up as council members discussed <strong>how much affordable housing developers should build</strong> in exchange for the right to construct taller towers in the South Lake Union neighborhood. This is a little wonky, but the line of questioning goes something like this: In exchange for letting developers build taller, how much of a new building should be rented below market rate (5 percent or more)? If developers choose <em>not</em> to include low-income housing, how much should they pay into an affordable housing fund (the range bandied about is around $17 to $27 per square foot). And finally, if they pay into that low-income housing fund, where should the city build it? In South Lake Union, where the development is happening but <strong>costs more to build</strong>, or should low-income housing be constructed in cheaper, far-flung parts of town?</p> <p>At Monday's meeting, Council Member Mike O'Brien pointed out that workers in the neighborhood shouldn't all leave South Lake Union at 5 p.m., they should be able to live there. </p> <p>Council Member Conlin, who chairs the council committee on the neighborhood's rezone, replied: "We may not be as successful if we devote our resources into the new housing in a very hot neighborhood in producing as much help for people who need affordable housing as if we <strong>focus our resources on, say, along the light rail line in Rainier Valley</strong>, where there is easy access to some of those jobs and where there are lots of great communities, such that can be built up there. It is a matter not so much about, say, everything there and not here, but what is where is the most effective way in which to deploy the resources that you might be able to have, which we know we can't create all the affordable housing that we would like to have. The government efforts are not possible to do that. So we have to figure out where our resources are most effective."</p> <p>O'Brien acknowledged the city could certainly subsidize <em>more</em> housing in the South End, but he hit back, saying, "If we do strict cost effectiveness, there is no doubt in my mind it is most cost effective to build all the units along light rail in the Rainier Valley. I think there are other values we want to balance."</p> <p>Futurewise's Brock Howell adds that Conlin's comments are "certainly worrisome. The ramification is repeating historical patterns of <strong>designating some neighborhoods as being poor</strong> and other neighborhoods where the wealthy growth is."</p> <p>Saldaña says it's not just a matter of fairness, but of practicality. "We want our high-tech workers and our hotel workers and janitors to be able to live where they work," she says. "Our city has a history of red-lining and we at Puget Sound Sage are committed to <strong>making sure that history does not repeat itself</strong>."</p> <p>UPDATE at 4:40 PM: Of course <strong>Kshama Sawant</strong>, the Socialist Alternative candidate running against Conlin, is pouncing on this opportunity. She says by e-mail that these remarks show Conlin would "allow real estate corporations to gobble up large chunks of land in the central areas of the city to build upmarket condos, and for low-income people to be pushed farther out into the fringes of the city. If this is not income and race segregation, I don't know what is."</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/21/conlin-focus-housing-for-poor-in-cheaper-south-seattle#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16300635&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/21/conlin-focus-housing-for-poor-in-cheaper-south-seattle?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16300635&id=comments 49 Conlin: Focus Housing for Poor in Cheaper South Seattle Via Seattle Channel Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:33:43 -0700 The Stranger Sally Clark Says I'm Trying to "Intimidate" the City Council http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/20/sally-clark-says-im-trying-to-intimidate-the-city-council http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/20/sally-clark-says-im-trying-to-intimidate-the-city-council Dominic Holden <p>As you may recall, the Seattle City Council is considering a <strong>moratorium on building aPodments</strong>, a type of small, affordable rental that houses lots of tenants in what are essentially dorm rooms inside of town houses. They're popular, they produce affordable rents without any government subsidies, and they drive neighborhood homeowners nuts (poor people could live nearby!). Listening to those concerns, Council Member Tom Rasmussen has floated a freeze of their construction. I posted recently about <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/08/council-member-tom-rasmussen-wants-to-freeze-construction-of-affordable-housing">why I disagree with Rasmussen</a>, noting that he owns a large, expensive home in West Seattle, and followed up by asking every member of the council if they support a moratorium. </p> <p>Most council members skirted the question, saying they hadn't seen a bill or they wanted to remain open to conversation, so I pressed harder on <strong>Council President Sally Clark</strong> (who also chaired the land use committee for several years):</p> <blockquote><p>From: Dominic Holden<br />Sent: Wednesday, March 13, 2013 9:33 AM<br />To: Clark, Sally<br />Subject: Backing a moratorium on aPodments</p> <p>Are you supportive or opposed? Since the impact is unambiguous—either it freezes construction of them or doesn't—you don't need to see legislation first. So... yes or no?</p> <p>Dominic Holden<br />News Editor, The Stranger</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>Clark, Sally wrote:</p> <p>Hi, Dominic — Sorry. I breezed by this yesterday and didn't get back to you. </p> <p>I heard you posted Rasmussen's home (a pic?). Did you really do that? Could that be taken as intimidation? I'm really not comfortable with the idea that we shouldn't discuss all the options. We may discard options through debate, but this thing about "don't even talk about it" is a little weird. </p> <p>Council President Sally J. Clark</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>From: Dominic Holden<br />Sent: Thursday, March 14, 2013 6:09 PM<br />To: Clark, Sally<br />Cc: Rasmussen, Tom<br />Subject: Re: Backing a moratorium on aPodments</p> <p>Hi, Sally. </p> <p>Thanks for writing back. </p> <p>First, nobody said "don't even talk about it" or that you "shouldn't discuss all the options." That's a straw man. I asked if you support a moratorium. You can discuss all the options while still opposing a moratorium. I'm sure there are many options you would oppose, like mandating them in single family housing zones, but you'd still be allowed to talk about it. You know this issue inside and out—I <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/thinking-small/Content?oid=1635067">interviewed you about it four years ago</a>—so it's reasonable to press you for a decisive, informed opinion. And it's reasonable to expect an answer without you trying to dodge this by pretending there's censorship at play. So do you support a moratorium?</p> <p>Second, I posted a link to the online King County report for Tom's property, which includes a photo, but to say I posted a photo is false. Could that be taken as intimidation? No. That's preposterous. Tom's property info comes up with a quick Google search—it's readily accessible information online for any land owner, and an elected figure has no presumption of privacy of data that's already very public. Also, I didn't tell people to do anything threatening with that information—I posted it because it was relevant to the story. Tom was floating a freeze on a type of affordable housing; the fact that Tom lives in a big, expensive house with lovely water views is pertinent. </p> <p>Dom</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>Clark, Sally wrote:</p> <p>No, no. You should own that putting the link out there is intended to intimidate. It's intended to make Tom look like he doesn't care about or understand affordability. </p> <p>Have I misconstrued these fb posts?</p> <p>"What an unbelievable asshole. City council member Tom Rasmussen wants to freeze construction of affordable housing."</p> <p>"Even considering a moratorium is nuts."</p> <p>I think aPods/micros should go through streamlined design review and that we need to get our own house in order when it comes to counting units for the purpose of permitting and multi-family tax exemption. I'm working on how we get there. Interim regulations (moratorium isn't an accurate description) are one option, but they're a serious step and I'd want to be sure it's necessary. That's the best I can give you this week. </p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>From: Dominic Holden <dholden@thestranger.com><br />Date: March 19, 2013 5:40:03 PM PDT<br />To: "Clark, Sally"<br />Subject: Re: Backing a moratorium on aPodments</p> <p>This is the decisive Sally Clark I wish we saw more. </p> <p>But in this case, your bold advocacy is being used as a shield to deflect from a real policy discussion. Still, to address this distraction, there is no intimidation of anyone going on here. Tom's address is easily found online—it's not like there are a lot of Tom Rasmussens running around—and the internet where people read about his home, on our blog, is the same internet where it's easy for anyone to pull up a property report. His property is also relevant, as the man considering a bill to freeze aPodment construction, because it concerns the size of people's homes, their income, and how much they pay for that home. </p> <p>You quoted a few comments on my Facebook page—those aren't on Slog, but if you want to bring those up, I stand behind them. I said Tom was being an asshole because I think he was being an asshole. He was floating a moratorium on a popular form of affordable housing. Honestly.</p> <p>You're now defending him using an intellectually dishonest attempt at deflection, trying to pose city council members as the victims. You're not a victim—you make a huge salary and you make decisions that affect a half-million people, but when someone criticizes you, you put on a victimhood performance as ironic as priests in the Catholic Church. </p> <p>But unlike altar boys and people who do business before your dais, not everyone is going to genuflect. You're dodging a simple question—if you support a moratorium, an unambiguous policy position—by saying you're remaining open minded. You can be open minded and you can have a conversation about your options, but you can also put a limit on how far you're willing to go. You wouldn't support a ban all construction in moneyed South Lake Union, right? Then you can oppose a moratorium. </p> <p>I just wish you could be half as bold when it comes to housing the poor as sending an e-mail. </p> <p>Dom</p></blockquote> <p>Call me a dick if you want for linking to Rasmussen's property report or butting heads with Clark, but the nonprofits that represent low-income tenants are often too overworked to fight these fights. Moreover, they usually need to preserve relationships with council members (for future funding) and aren't willing to be so blunt. So yeah, I'm being kinda dickish here because I think someone needs to be. </p> <p>In my campaign of dickishness, I assigned trusty news intern Ben Steiner to help me get their positions on the record. Rasmussen needs seven votes to pass an emergency bill. If three council members are opposed, his moratorium is dead. So I wondered if thee council members would have the guts that Clark, Licata, Burgess lack. Of course, some council members were equally squirrelly: Champion of the Poor Nick Licata weaseled out twice when asked if he would oppose a moratorium; so did Council Member Tim Burgess.</p> <p>But not every council member was so evasive. </p> <p>Council Member Richard Conlin opposes a moratorium, he said in this e-mail:</p> <blockquote><p>I do not support a moratorium. There are some land use code changes that are needed to ensure that micro units are covered in the city's regulatory system but we can accomplish that through the normal land use code legislative process. </p> <p>Councilmember Richard Conlin</p></blockquote> <p>Council Member Mike O'Brien's opposition was equally clear:</p> <blockquote><p>I do not support a moratorium on the private development of affordable housing. At a time when the city is struggling to meet its affordable housing goals, private development that is helping fill a housing need is a good thing. I think there are some legitimate concerns about the process, but I also think we can make some reasonable fixes to our zoning and design codes to address those concerns. I encourage DPD to get to work right away to develop some options for Council to consider in the very near future.</p></blockquote> <p>Council Member Bruce Harrell was opposed to a moratorium, but he left wiggle room:</p> <blockquote><p>If a moratorium were presented tomorrow, I would not support it. I have supported moratoriums in the past, as have everyone else here when compelling arguments have been made but I have heard no such arguments in this matter; heck, there isn't even any paperwork on this issue. I have heard anecdotally there were something like 40 developments being planned and the parking issue seems to drive concerns from those opposing them (which I have not) but that in and of itself does not support a moratorium and I have publicly stated my support for all kinds of affordable housing, including these types of dwelling units, even though many may find them undesirable. The fact is, these units provide valuable affordable housing for an important segment of our population.</p></blockquote> <p>Kudos to Conlin and O'Brien for having the guts to defend poor renters (and a kudos—with caveats—to a slightly less gutsy Harrell). </p> <p>I hope that the council has a thorough conversation about aPodments—do they need administrative review from the city, should neighbors be notified, should there be a comment procedure?—because that is a valid conversation to have. But in the meantime, <strong>Rasmussen's repugnant moratorium appears dead. </strong></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/20/sally-clark-says-im-trying-to-intimidate-the-city-council#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16301865&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/20/sally-clark-says-im-trying-to-intimidate-the-city-council?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16301865&id=comments 55 Wed, 20 Mar 2013 13:09:09 -0700 The Stranger Council Member Tom Rasmussen Wants to Freeze Construction of Affordable Housing http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/08/council-member-tom-rasmussen-wants-to-freeze-construction-of-affordable-housing http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/08/council-member-tom-rasmussen-wants-to-freeze-construction-of-affordable-housing Dominic Holden <p>Seattle City Council member Tom Rasmussen is <a href="http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profiles/publicola/articles/city-could-put-moratorium-on-apodments-march-2013">considering emergency legislation</a> to stop construction of a type of small apartment that's extremely affordable to rent, quick to build, and wildly popular:</p> <blockquote><p>City council member Tom Rasmussen confirms this morning's caffeinated news and gossip that the council is considering legislation, which he may propose, that could place new restrictions (including, potentially, <strong>a moratorium</strong>) on so-called "aPODments," a brand name that's now widely used to describe buildings that contain numerous small housing units that surround a central living area and kitchen on each floor. </p> <p>The units have been <a href="http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profiles/publicola/articles/eastlake-residents-oppose-new-micro-housing">drawing opposition</a> in neighborhoods like Capitol Hill and Eastlake, where residents are incensed: because they require no land-use review (each floor technically constitutes just one unit, even if it houses several unrelated people, so they're legal under existing code); because they don't typically require on-site parking, and, most importantly; and because they increase density—specifically, <strong>density of people like college students and low-income workers</strong>, the kind of folks who are frequently charged with diminishing the "character" of Seattle's established neighborhoods. </p></blockquote> <p>But they're making the NIMBYs furious. </p> <p>APodments may not be perfect for everyone, but they are priced within reach for folks who otherwise couldn't live in the city. What makes them even better is that they produce this affordable housing stock <em>without any subsidies</em>. That's crucial because the city will never be able to provide enough subsidized housing with levies, or through zoning incentives, for all the workers who need to live in the city. If we don't have market-generated, affordable rentals like these, we push workers and poor folks to the outskirts, making Seattle a wealthy, white enclave. Rasmussen probably isn't thinking about that. He's wealthy. Rasmussen makes over $110,000 a year. He ran the most over-financed campaign in city council history in 2011 (out-raising his opponent by more than $300,000). His spouse is a partner at a venture capital firm, and, according to King County property records, <a href="http://info.kingcounty.gov/Assessor/eRealProperty/Dashboard.aspx?ParcelNbr=1021000043">they own a house valued near $1 million</a>. But aPodments are great for thousands of other people. </p> <p>I'm sympathetic to concerns that some aPodments have been built without going through the normal design review process. And if that's the beef, go ahead and propose legislation requiring more community notice and design input. But that has always been a superficial complaint. When I wrote about this years ago, I wrote about NIMBY neighbors' classist fears of <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/thinking-small/Content?oid=1635067">"itinerant" workers and "very sketchy people."</a> Neighbors say the units are ugly, they're inhumanely small, and they don't fit the "character" of the expensive neighborhoods around them. (The people who actually live in the aPodmencts are delightful, normal people who are happy to have a small, affordable home in the city.) But let's take this argument on its face—that this is about more review of construction projects (which I fear is still a tool for NIMBYs to oppose these projects): design reviews don't require a moratorium. They don't require freezing this type of affordable housing from being built—but that's apparently exactly what Rasmussen is considering. </p> <p>It's an asshole move.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/08/council-member-tom-rasmussen-wants-to-freeze-construction-of-affordable-housing#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16193355&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/03/08/council-member-tom-rasmussen-wants-to-freeze-construction-of-affordable-housing?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=16193355&id=comments 75 Fri, 08 Mar 2013 06:57:11 -0800 The Stranger Putting the Dreamliner's Problems In Perspective http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/01/09/putting-the-dreamliners-problems-in-perspective http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/01/09/putting-the-dreamliners-problems-in-perspective Dan Savage <p><a href="http://www.askthepilot.com/787fire/">Patrick "Ask the Pilot" Smith</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>The 787 is the world’s newest and most sophisticated commercial jet. It entered service with Japan’s All Nippon Airways in October, 2011. JAL’s Boston-Narita service, introduced last spring, was the first 787 route in North America. The plane’s composite construction, along with much of its systems architecture, is for now unique among commercial jets. Teething problems, let’s call them, are common when new models are introduced. Jetliners undergo rigorous pre-delivery testing, and but they are large and highly complicated machines. Not everything works perfectly right from the blocks.... </p> <p>This is the third serious incident involving the 787′s aft equipment bay. The first two resulted in emergency landings—one by a pre-delivery 787 on a test flight in 2010; the other two months ago by a United 787 in New Orleans. Testing and certification criteria have come a long way since the days of the DC-10 and the Comet, and I am by no means calling the 787 unsafe, but still this trend is a worrying one. It could potentially affect the plane’s certification for overwater flying (so-called ETOPS restrictions dictate how far from diversion airports a twin-engine plane like the 787 is allowed to fly). Nevertheless, it’s important to keep in mind that not every technical problem involving a 787 is indicative of a design flaw. From this point on, we can expect the growing fleet of 787s to be under rather intense scrutiny. That’s good for obvious reasons, but also bad because the media, which goes bonkers over almost anything involving airplanes, is liable to overhype even minor malfunctions that have nothing to do with the plane’s engineering.</p></blockquote> <p>I'm a nervous flyer... so, yeah, I'm kindasorta invested in the whole notion that new airplane models should work perfectly "right from the blocks." But I will somehow find the inner strength—or the outer Xanax—to defer Patrick's expertise on this one. (Via <a href="http://www.balloon-juice.com/">BalloonJuice</a>.)</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/01/09/putting-the-dreamliners-problems-in-perspective#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15706873&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Transportation Panic Death Boom News Drugs http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/01/09/putting-the-dreamliners-problems-in-perspective?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15706873&id=comments 13 Wed, 09 Jan 2013 08:31:35 -0800 The Stranger Wal-Mart, Corruption, and Mrs. Pineda’s Alfalfa Field http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/18/wal-mart-corruption-and-mrs-pinedas-alfalfa-field http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/18/wal-mart-corruption-and-mrs-pinedas-alfalfa-field Cienna Madrid <p>This <em>New York Times</em> article, documenting the inventive bribery and corruption techniques of Wal-Mart de Mexico, is <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/18/business/walmart-bribes-teotihuacan.html?hp&_r=0">a fascinating, enraging read</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>SAN JUAN TEOTIHUACÁN, Mexico — <strong>Wal-Mart longed to build in Elda Pineda’s alfalfa field</strong>. It was an ideal location, just off this town’s bustling main entrance and barely a mile from its ancient pyramids, which draw tourists from around the world. With its usual precision, Wal-Mart calculated it would attract 250 customers an hour if only it could put a store in Mrs. Pineda’s field.</p> <p>One major obstacle stood in Wal-Mart’s way.</p> <p>After years of study, the town’s elected leaders had just approved a new zoning map. The leaders wanted to limit growth near the pyramids, and they considered the town’s main entrance too congested already. As a result, the 2003 zoning map <strong>prohibited commercial development on Mrs. Pineda’s field</strong>, seemingly dooming Wal-Mart’s hopes.</p> <p>But 30 miles away in Mexico City, at the headquarters of Wal-Mart de Mexico, executives were not about to be thwarted by an unfavorable zoning decision... </p></blockquote> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/18/wal-mart-corruption-and-mrs-pinedas-alfalfa-field#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15562666&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/18/wal-mart-corruption-and-mrs-pinedas-alfalfa-field?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15562666&id=comments 4 Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:21:06 -0800 The Stranger Richard Conlin Loves Skyscrapers in SLU http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/03/richard-conlin-loves-skyscrapers-in-slu http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/03/richard-conlin-loves-skyscrapers-in-slu Dominic Holden <p>Here's some credit where it's due: <a href="http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsnorthwest/2012/12/03/conlin-endorses-south-lake-union-rezone/#.UL0fndiH0f8.twitter">Richard Conlin</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>Seattle City Councilmember Richard Conlin gave a generally glowing review of the proposed South Lake Union rezone in an interview with KUOW radio host Steve Scher this morning.</p> <p>Conlin said, “I’m excited about it,” and added that the proposal to permit <strong>buildings up to 400 feet tall</strong> is “exactly the kind of density we should be encouraging.”</p></blockquote> <p>Before all the lesser Seattle yelpers jump in, supporting density like this—and 40-story towers—doesn't preclude extracting stronger neighborhood benefits from developers like Vulcan, mandating that larger projects include affordable housing, or requiring designs that keep interesting activity on the sidewalk. It's good for the mayor and council to tweak the proposal to build a really cool neighborhood, while still giving developers incentive to build there. But if any of the council members or mayoral candidates balk in the end—voting no or just rejecting an upzone altogether—they have <strong>no business being in office in any major city</strong>. They should run for office in Port Townsend instead.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/03/richard-conlin-loves-skyscrapers-in-slu#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15433605&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/03/richard-conlin-loves-skyscrapers-in-slu?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15433605&id=comments 37 Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:19:57 -0800 The Stranger B&O Espresso Finally Closing http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/11/21/bando-espresso-finally-closing http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/11/21/bando-espresso-finally-closing Dominic Holden <p><a href="http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2012/11/21/bo-espresso-on-e-olive-way-1976-2012">Capitol Hill Seattle blog:</a></p> <blockquote><p>After 36 years, B&O Espresso has finally reached its end on E Olive Way. "He has his money to do his project," manager John Auseth tells CHS about word received last week that the <strong>mixed-use development</strong> in the works for the last four years that will replace the 1924-built building is finally in motion.</p></blockquote> <p>Demolition of the one-story B&O Espresso building has been a long time coming, with plans for a six-story building on the site. I've written about a neighborhood campaign to stop the development <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2009/01/21/saving_the_b_o_espresso_buil">over here</a>. But as I reported last year, <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-new-construction-boom/Content?oid=7560594">financing is steadily coming through for exactly these sort of projects</a>: residential buildings on the western slope of Capitol Hill, in corridors well served by transit.</p> <p>Details are <del>scant</del> <em>BOUNTIFUL</em> at CHS (update: their post says the coffee shop will close on the 9th). But word on the street is that they're going close shop within two weeks, so I called B&O. An employee explained moments ago that they need to "be out by the 31st of December, so <strong>the 9th is our last day of business</strong>."</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/11/21/bando-espresso-finally-closing#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15348272&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/11/21/bando-espresso-finally-closing?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15348272&id=comments 14 Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:37:47 -0800 The Stranger Vulcan Named as Finalist in Yesler Terrace Rebuild http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/11/20/vulcan-named-as-finalist-in-yesler-terrace-rebuild http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/11/20/vulcan-named-as-finalist-in-yesler-terrace-rebuild Cienna Madrid <p>From the <em><a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2019722278_yeslerdevelopers21m.html">Seattle Times</a></em>:<br /><blockquote>The Seattle Housing Authority announced Tuesday it will partner with either Paul Allen real-estate firm Vulcan or Forest City Enterprises of Los Angeles on a proposed $300 million makeover of Yesler Terrace, a project unprecedented in scope and scale in the United States.</p> <p>The housing authority solicited qualifications earlier this year for a master-development partner and three firms responded: Vulcan; Forest City; and Hunt Companies of El Paso, Texas. Hunt was eliminated from consideration as a finalist after the authority reviewed its expertise in mixed-income, mixed-use projects.</p></blockquote> <p>The Seattle Housing Authority is conducting interviews with the two finalists next month, with the hope of formalizing and signing a contract with its preferred choice next year.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/11/20/vulcan-named-as-finalist-in-yesler-terrace-rebuild#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15337444&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/11/20/vulcan-named-as-finalist-in-yesler-terrace-rebuild?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=15337444&id=comments 4 Tue, 20 Nov 2012 15:26:51 -0800 The Stranger Build More Tiny Apartments! http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/09/24/more-tiny-apartments http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/09/24/more-tiny-apartments Dominic Holden <p>Want to help make Seattle affordable? We should do what the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/realestate/living-large-in-tiny-spaces.html?smid=pl-share"><em>New York Times</em> describes here:</a></p> <blockquote><p>IN July, when Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg announced his competition to create a building of residential “micro-units” in Manhattan, each ranging from 275 to 300 square feet, the plan ignited the imagination of countless architects and developers. ...</p> <p>The allure of living in New York City, particularly for young singles, is as inexorable as the cruel math of making it happen. With rents heading in one direction only and more people wanting to live here, it’s a good bet that most people who move to the city will get considerably less space than they had hoped. But after they work through all the mental moves required to justify their choice to the dumbfounded — “You’re paying that much for this?”— comes the real adjustment: nesting in a space scarcely bigger than a bird’s nest.</p></blockquote> <p>You can already imagine the cries of classism if our City Hall encouraged developers to start building 150-square-foot apartments. The anti-density, lesser-Seattle howlers would line up to declare a competition like that a demeaning assault on the lower class, a threat to the dignity of renters everywhere, or evidence of gentrification! "Making our spaces smaller and our living conditions more congested and densely populated still smells like inequity," a commenter <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/queens-of-the-hill/Content?oid=808781">wrote</a> when I advocated for smaller apartments a couple years back. And another scolded me, "Your perspective could use a level of class analysis and a little humility." Sorry, but I think that accommodating our growing population by shipping workers into the low-density sprawl of the exurbs is what reeks of inequity and classism. By shunting workers into areas poorly served by transit, they end up spending a <a href="http://www.bts.gov/publications/special_reports_and_issue_briefs/issue_briefs/number_01/html/entire.html">giagntic chunk of their paycheck and time on car commuting</a>. And a lot of those cries are insincere: Well-to-do residents of established neighborhoods oppose density in the name of legitimate-sounding concerns—like lack of parking, improper environmental reviews, and shadows from new buildings—while they mostly fear living near poor renters (<a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/thinking-small/Content?oid=1635067">Exhibit A</a>). If you're <em>actually</em> interested accommodating houses and jobs for workers—which I am—then you also care about their right to live in the fucking city where they goddamn work. And, realistically, Seattle's trend of building 600-square-foot, one-bedroom apartments means a single person needs to pay upwards of $1,300 to live in town. Lots of workers just can't afford that. </p> <p>The smattering of subsidies, like the city's housing levy, will never add up to provide homes for even half of the workers who want to live here but can't afford it. But by encouraging small apartments—200 to 350 square feet—<strong>affordable rentals can be built without any incentives or assistance at all</strong>. They'll need the cultural blessing of the mayor, the council, the media, the neighborhoods. And yeah, some sanctimonious dicks will scream bloody murder. Fuck 'em. They don't have to live in 'em, right? With property values eternally rising and the affordable stock disappearing in places like Pike/Pine, lower Queen Anne, Belltown, and the U-District, the way to keep the city diverse, vibrant—and accommodating for regular workers—is to build affordable rentals close to the city, where the jobs are. Seattle shouldn't be an enclave for the wealthy.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/09/24/more-tiny-apartments#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14836902&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/09/24/more-tiny-apartments?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14836902&id=comments 55 Mon, 24 Sep 2012 09:18:58 -0700 The Stranger Leschi Property Owners Taunt Angry Neighbors and Government with Sign Telling Obama to "Kiss Our Booty" http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/09/19/leschi-property-owners-taunt-angry-neighbors-and-government-with-sign-telling-obama-to-kiss-our-booty http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/09/19/leschi-property-owners-taunt-angry-neighbors-and-government-with-sign-telling-obama-to-kiss-our-booty Dominic Holden <p>King County property records show that the <strong>million-dollar property</strong> with the lovely view on 333 Lakeside Avenue South belongs to Randall Spaan and Betty Lock, and over the last eight years, they've applied for permits that began with a retaining wall, added a large garage and basement, and then stacked two more floors to make the house what is—technically speaking—a three-story house with a basement. As you can see from this photo taken from the street, sent by a source asking not to be named, the home is rather large:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/9703/1348081729-house_on_lakeside.jpg" alt="house_on_lakeside.jpg" title="" width="500" height="493" /></div></p> <p>"The house now looms over the surrounding homes and already blocks the view of Mt. Rainier from many of the homes to the north," says our ticked off Slog tipper. "To add insult to injury, the homeowner has raised a banner on the house which reads:"</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/73f1/1348081676-obama_booty.jpg" alt="obama_booty.jpg" title="" width="500" height="318" /></div></p> <p>First, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!</p> <p>Second, I called Bryan Stevens at the city's Department of Planning and Development—aka <strong>The Government</strong>—about Mr. Spaan's property.</p> <p>Using what's called a "steep slope bonus," Spaan is allowed to build as high as 43 feet from the top of the structure to the ground directly below (the height of a four-story apartment building). However, these houses can also "step up like a stair case with the hillside," Stevens says. The lot's height climbs by 25 feet from the front to the back, so the height of tallest portion can rise <strong>much higher than 43 feet above the lowest point of the house</strong> at the front of the lot. "I know that from as viewed from Lakeside Avenue, it looks quite tall," says Stevens, responding to concerns of neighbors.</p> <p>Neighbors have complained a couple times (once in March and one just recently), so Stevens explains, "We are going to be <strong>sending out an inspector</strong> today or tomorrow to do a field measurement of the structure to make sure it's per plan."</p> <p>As for Spaan, he's an architect and permit facilitator—according to the quick search for records on him I could find—and he's kvetched in the past about the city's <a href="http://seattletimes.com/html/opinion/2003029081_rams31.html">arguably onerous procedures for getting permits</a>. I called him and left a message. </p> <p>There's also the sign. The neighbor says that the homeowners "don’t appreciate that government built the road, the sewer, the utilities, Lake Washington Boulevard, and so much more that makes their Leschi neighborhood so attractive." Perhaps that's true. But Stevens explains that the eeeevil City of Seattle doesn't govern speech, only "<strong>the limit on the size of the sign</strong>." And that limit is 36-square feet for temporary signs in residential areas, Stevens says, and this <strong>banner appears to comply with city rules</strong>. So take that, big-government-inflating, private-investment-killing Obamuslim! </p> <p>The End.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/09/19/leschi-property-owners-taunt-angry-neighbors-and-government-with-sign-telling-obama-to-kiss-our-booty#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14790102&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/09/19/leschi-property-owners-taunt-angry-neighbors-and-government-with-sign-telling-obama-to-kiss-our-booty?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14790102&id=comments 53 Leschi Property Owners Taunt Angry Neighbors and Government with Sign Telling Obama to "Kiss Our Booty" Wed, 19 Sep 2012 12:31:58 -0700 The Stranger City Council Unanimously Approves 5,000-Unit Yesler Terrace Rebuild http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/09/04/city-council-unanimously-approves-5000-unit-yesler-terrace-project http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/09/04/city-council-unanimously-approves-5000-unit-yesler-terrace-project Cienna Madrid <p>Today, the City Council voted unanimously to approve the <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/08/16/council-will-vote-on-yesler-terrace-package-on-september-4&view=comments">$290 million Yesler Terrace redevelopment package</a>, even as low-income housing activists and members of International District residents turned out in force, pleading with council members to delay the long-awaited vote.</p> <p><strong>The objections raised today by activists were not new</strong>. The Seattle Housing Coalition once again lobbied for more extremely-low-income housing and residents from neighboring International District repeatedly asked the council to delay the vote until the Seattle Housing Authority—which is orchestrating the rebuild—unilaterally committed to developing a Vietnamese cultural center. </p> <p>“Once you approve this rezone, there is no leverage within the community to keep SHA at the table,” testified Quang Nguyen, speaking on behalf of the Friends of Little Saigon. "We ask you to delay this vote."</p> <p>While council members were unwavering in their votes, they acknowledged that their proposal wasn't without flaws. "<strong>I understand your disappointment</strong>," council member Nick Licata said, calling the legislation package "the least bad decision that's available, considering that [federal] funding for anything else just isn't available."</p> <p>Two weeks ago, council members passed over <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/08/16/council-will-vote-on-yesler-terrace-package-on-september-4&view=comments">20 amendments</a> to address a slate of objections to the rebuild. </p> <p>Still, today many people testified the council didn't push hard enough to accommodate the city's most vulnerable residents.</p> <p>"<strong>This is a market-rate development scheme</strong>," John Fox, head of the Seattle Displacement Coalition, testified today. Fox presented the council with a letter signed by 80 community members who opposed the project. "It's robbing Peter to save Paul. It will mean more homelessness, longer waiting lists for public housing in this city."</p> <p>Fox has long criticized the Seattle Housing Authority for its plans to use grants and city Housing Levy funds to replace YT's 561 extremely low-income apartments with 5,000 mixed-income units—but only 661 units (tops) will serve the extremely low-income households that have historically comprised the area.</p> <p>In response to the criticisms raised, city council members pointed out that:<br /> <br />· More than 1,100 new units of low-income and subsidized housing will be built, along with up to 661 units of extremely low-income housing.<br /> <br />· All current residents will receive relocation counseling in their own languages, and the costs of all on- and off-site moves will be covered.<br /> <br />· And all current YT residents will be <strong>guaranteed the right to return</strong> to new units at Yesler Terrace.</p> <p>"We know there will be tremendous overturn in the neighborhood and that we will have to deal with the impacts," responded council member Richard Conlin. "We are not simply going to pass these ordinances and resolutions and walk away... we will work with SHA and the community to make this work as best as possible."</p> <p>But moving forward, Licata urged activists to refocus their goals to "preserve the community as much as possible." As an example, Licata urged <strong>SHA to make a promise to keep Yesler Terrace "child friendly"</strong> by committing to relocating children with families back on site as quickly as possible. </p> <p>"Without community, <strong>you're just building buildings</strong>," he said.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/09/04/city-council-unanimously-approves-5000-unit-yesler-terrace-project#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14656889&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/09/04/city-council-unanimously-approves-5000-unit-yesler-terrace-project?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14656889&id=comments 10 Tue, 04 Sep 2012 16:09:49 -0700 The Stranger DJ Ira Glass vs DJ Dan Savage: Round Two! http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/08/27/dj-ira-glass-vs-dj-dan-savage-round-two http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/08/27/dj-ira-glass-vs-dj-dan-savage-round-two Dan Savage <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/9bda/1346110124-iradjbattle.jpg" alt="iradjbattle.JPG" title="" width="500" height="375" /></div></p> <p>The last time Ira Glass came to Seattle I challenged him to a DJ battle: Ira's well-stocked iPad vs. my insane collection of disco show tunes. <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2010/08/22/4719230-trouble-disco-with-dan-savage-and-ira-glass-what-you-missed/">It was epic</a>:</p> <blockquote><p>DJ Dan Savage and DJ Ira Glass danced their way through a three-hour set at Re-bar's monthly Trouble Dicso dance night. Needless to say, the space was packed—500 people squeezed their asses on the dance floor with greased hips, ready to throw down their best dance moves with the two men on stage. If you didn't make it through the door, here's what you missed: DJ Savage's 90-minute set—heavy on the broadway showtunes, with remixes of songs like Roger Whittaker's "What I did for Love" (from Chorus Line) to Ethel Merman's "I'm an Indian Too" (Annie Get Your Gun)... Glass followed up by playing—and singing along to—Miley Cyrus's "Party in the U.S.A.," clearly vying for the title. Glass also played tunes by Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Ok Go, and the White Stripes, among others.</p></blockquote> <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:312px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2012/08/27/1346110923-djiraglass_s.jpg" alt="DJIraGlass_S.jpg" title="" width="300" height="418" /></div>The first DJ Glass vs. DJ Savage DJ battle—sponsored by TROUBLE and the <em>Stranger</em>—was billed as a once-in-a-lifetime event. Well, scratch that, Seattle, because it's a twice-in-a-lifetime event now: TROUBLE and the <em>Stranger</em> are pleased to announce <strong>DJ Ira Glass vs. DJ Dan Savage: Round Two!</strong> Ira and I will be dissing (each other) and spinning (the hits) on Saturday, Sept 8 at Showbox At The Market. Tickets are $10, doors open at 10 PM. Join us for another amazing night of dancing, sing-alongs, pop hits, and crazy disco versions of showtunes!</p> <p>What pop hits will Ira play this time? How many new disco showtunes have I managed to unearth in the two years since our first throw down? Will the nerds outnumber the gays? Will the gays outnumber the nerds? Who will emerge victorious? There's only one way to find out: join us at the Showbox on September 8! <a href="http://www.strangertickets.com/events/5747292/ira-glass-after-party-with-dan-savage">Order your tickets NOW</a>!</p> <p>AND! There are still some seats available for Ira's program at Benaroya Hall earlier in the same evening. Get your ticket to <em>Ira Glass: Reinventing Radio</em> <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/promotions/archives/2012/08/01/ira-glass">here</a>!</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/08/27/dj-ira-glass-vs-dj-dan-savage-round-two#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14584052&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Music Boom ??!! http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/08/27/dj-ira-glass-vs-dj-dan-savage-round-two?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14584052&id=comments 18 DJ Ira Glass vs DJ Dan Savage: Round Two! Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:47:07 -0700 The Stranger 12th Avenue Arts Building Slated to Break Ground This Fall http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/08/21/12th-avenue-arts-building-slated-to-break-ground-this-fall http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/08/21/12th-avenue-arts-building-slated-to-break-ground-this-fall Cienna Madrid <p>After <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/11/17/12th-avenue-arts-building-coming">mooning over this project</a> for <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/06/01/city-reaches-agreement-to-develop-12th-avenue-spd-parking-lot">over a year</a>, we're finally seeing legislative traction: Yesterday, Mayor Mike McGinn's office pneumatic tubed legislation down to the city council that would allow Capitol Hill Housing to develop the 29,000 square-foot police parking lot on 12th Avenue and Pine Street into a <strong>six-story affordable housing and arts space</strong>.</p> <p><div class="blogImageLeft" style="width:262px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/ff7f/1345568560-screen_shot_2012-08-21_at_9.49.43_am.png" alt="Nothing more exciting than a photo of a parking lot." title="Nothing more exciting than a photo of a parking lot." width="250" height="128" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">i own this</li><li class="imageCaption">Nothing more exciting than a photo of a parking lot.</li></ul></div>The legislation calls for the building to hold 88-units of affordable housing, 15,000 square feet of community commercial space for nonprofit groups, <strong>two small theater venues</strong>, and street-level retail space. It will also include a secure underground parking garage with <strong>a minimum of 111 stalls</strong> for the exclusive use of the Seattle Police Department.</p> <p><br />The total project cost has ballooned from $38 million to <strong>$43 million</strong>; <del>Still, the mayor's office confirms none of the money will come from the city's general fund</del>. </p> <p>Ha ha, nevermind! The mayor's office now says that, "<strong>$270,000 in 2012 and $75,000 per year for the following five years</strong>" will be funneled from the general fund for the project, according to mayoral spokesman Aaron Pickus. He added that the negotiation was "a fair contribution for the City’s use of the parking garage for the East Precinct."</p> <p>CHH is running a capital campaign to raise $4.6 million. "We’ve had great success and been able to both increase our goal and get closer to the goal," says Michael Seiwerath, executive director of the CHH Foundation. (The former goal was $3.2 million.) "We've raised $3.2 million and we're now at 70 percent of our [$4.6 million] goal."</p> <p>Bank loans, new market tax credits, and seller financing will pay for the remainder of the non-residential portion of the project, while the building's 88 residential units will be financed through sources like the Housing Levy, the state Housing Trust Fund, and low-income tax credits.</p> <p>Assuming all goes swimmingly on the council's end, the project will break ground this fall and be completed sometime in 2014.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/08/21/12th-avenue-arts-building-slated-to-break-ground-this-fall#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14520471&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/08/21/12th-avenue-arts-building-slated-to-break-ground-this-fall?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14520471&id=comments 1 12th Avenue Arts Building Slated to Break Ground This Fall Nothing more exciting than a photo of a parking lot. i own this Tue, 21 Aug 2012 10:17:46 -0700 The Stranger City Board Will See "Bauhaus Block" Plans Tonight http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/07/18/city-board-will-see-bauhaus-block-plans-tonight http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/07/18/city-board-will-see-bauhaus-block-plans-tonight Dominic Holden <p>Here's the newly released <strong>construction proposal for the Bauhaus Block</strong> that would wrap a seven-story, 160-unit apartment building around the old Timken Building and Melrose Building. This is an important, controversial project that tests the city's ability to increase density while retaining the character structures that define Capitol Hill. (We've written about the project <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/another-one-bites-the-dust/Content?oid=13385766">here</a> and more recently <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/28/architcetural-drawings-released-for-bauhaus-block-development">here</a>). </p> <p>You can look at Hewitt architects' designs in <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/AppDocs/GroupMeetings/DRProposal3013342AgendaID3681.pdf">this fat design packet</a>, and here are a couple images of their preferred design:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/5d33/1342574465-bauhaus_block.jpg" alt="bauhaus_block.jpg" title="" width="500" height="379" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">HEWITT</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/efe6/1342575276-melrose_and_pine.jpg" alt="melrose_and_pine.jpg" title="" width="500" height="317" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">HEWITT</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div></p> <p>Madison Development group will present this and other designs to the city's Design Review Board tonight. </p> <p>If you care about getting this awesome block's development correct—integrating new construction with an active strip of retail, all while setting good precedent for a slew of new buildings slated for construction in Pike/Pine—you should <a href="http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/LUIB/Notice.aspx?BID=730&NID=13886">go to the meeting</a>. It's at 8:00 p.m. in Seattle University's Casey Building, room 500E (901 12th Ave), and you can <em>make comments</em>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/07/18/city-board-will-see-bauhaus-block-plans-tonight#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14208980&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/07/18/city-board-will-see-bauhaus-block-plans-tonight?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14208980&id=comments 5 City Board Will See Bauhaus Block Plans Tonight HEWITT Wed, 18 Jul 2012 06:42:12 -0700 The Stranger What Can You Do About the Ugly Colors on New Development Projects? http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/07/13/what-can-you-do-about-the-ugly-colors-on-new-development-projects http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/07/13/what-can-you-do-about-the-ugly-colors-on-new-development-projects Dominic Holden <p>Miko writes with a question shared by many people with eyeballs: "Is it possible that during a public design review for these large real estate projects in Seattle (Capitol Hill), one could stand up and say, "Please, for the love of God, <strong>don't paint your building that horrible yellow/brown/orange scheme?</strong>" </p> <p>WHAT COULD MIKO BE TALKING ABOUT?</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/be53/1342207006-13th_and_madison_building.jpg" alt="Baylis Architects did this." title="Baylis Architects did this." width="500" height="375" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">DH</li><li class="imageCaption">Baylis Architects did this.</li></ul></div></p> <p>Okay, okay, this thing on 13th and Madison Street—that Baylis Architects presented as something far more appetizing <a href="http://www.baylisarchitects.com/13th.html">when it was just a drawing</a>—is one of the ugliest things the human brain could imagine. Did Stevie Wonder design it? With help from Helen Keller? Who's dead. The problem isn't just the colors, which I kinda like, but just the fact that it's a composition failure. And there are lots of new developments now on the way because <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/the-new-construction-boom/Content?oid=7560594">lenders are investing in urban, mixed use properties again</a> and lots of <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/Design_Review_Program/Project_Reviews/Upcoming/default.asp">design review meetings are scheduled this summer</a>. So here's my message to Miko:</p> <p>Hi, Miko, nice eyeballs. </p> <p>You can <strong>totally go to the design review board meetings</strong> and beg developers to refrain from using hideous color palettes. But, I'll warn you...</p> <p>... the design review boards have zero enforcement authority. They're stacked, overwhelmingly and by design, with the very same industry insiders—architects, developers, and realtors—who have their own projects that go before the boards. The Capitol Hill board is <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/Design_Review_Program/Who_We_Are/Boards/DPD_001376.asp">stacked four against two</a> with industry professionals and the downtown board is <a href="http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/Design_Review_Program/Who_We_Are/Boards/DPD_001376.asp">all industry</a>. So, for whatever reason, they generally avoid asking for big changes, even if they're looking at designs that clash with the neighborhood. And even if they did ask for big changes, they, again, have no way to demand them.</p> <p>But if you ask me—which you did, kinda sorta—the main concern with these new developments isn't the color. It's how the developers and architects <strong>design the ground floor</strong>. As I and others (like Fnarf) have lamented, the problem these projects typically share is shallow retail spaces (like that new thing on Belmont and Pine), because much of the ground level is consumed by parking facilities (like the Joule on Broadway). Unlike a paint color, these problems are permanent and they ensure that the buildings' functions, not just their aesthetics, are forever skewed to invite corporate chain stores (that love lots of window space but don't need much storage or production space in the back) instead of affordable local retail spaces (that need lots of storage and workspace but can't afford lots of glass street frontage). Too many of these are death to a neighborhood. And the design review boards seem oblivious to this <strong>structural design flaw</strong> while dwelling on meaningless bullshit like tiny setbacks that create vacuums of activity or the color of the siding. And they can't even get that trivial bit right. </p> <p>So if were you, that's what I would complain about—the big designs errors that go by unchecked—and then complain about the shitty colors.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/07/13/what-can-you-do-about-the-ugly-colors-on-new-development-projects#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14170791&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/07/13/what-can-you-do-about-the-ugly-colors-on-new-development-projects?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14170791&id=comments 40 What Can You Do About the Ugly Colors on New Development Projects? Baylis Architects did this. DH Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:25:25 -0700 The Stranger Architectural Drawings Released for Bauhaus Block Development http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/28/architcetural-drawings-released-for-bauhaus-block-development http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/28/architcetural-drawings-released-for-bauhaus-block-development Dominic Holden <p>This is the first glimpse of architect Dave Hewitt's plans for a controversial development project at Melrose Avenue and East Pine Street. As we reported in April, Madison Development Group caused a firestorm when they bought several properties, including two character structures nearly a century old, with plans to <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/another-one-bites-the-dust/Content?oid=13385766">construct a seven-story building on the site</a>. But the firm was reticent to commit to preserving the structures—saying they could be gutted or razed. They have since committed to <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/05/09/developer-will-save-bauhaus-block-in-its-entiretybut-there-are-a-couple-caveats">saving the two buildings</a>.</p> <p>Drawings released today show Hewitt's vision for constructing the <strong>new apartment building behind and around the old buildings</strong>. </p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/23f7/1340913856-melrose_rendering.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/23f7/1340913856-melrose_rendering.jpg" alt="A rendering of the preserved Timken Building (left) and preserved Melrose Building (right) with the new proposed structure being proposed by Madison Development Group" title="A rendering of the preserved Timken Building (left) and preserved Melrose Building (right) with the new proposed structure being proposed by Madison Development Group" width="500" height="243" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">HEWITT</li><li class="imageCaption">A rendering of the preserved Timken Building (left) and preserved Melrose Building (right) with the new proposed structure being proposed by Madison Development Group</li></ul></div></p> <p>The exterior of the old buildings will be "<strong>exactly as they are today</strong>," Hewitt told me in a recent interview. The floor plans will also be kept largely intact, and they intend—they say—to maintain the same density of street-level retail spaces that make the block one of the most commercially and culturally vibrant stretches of Capitol Hill. The new building will be set back from the roof lines of the old buildings by around 15 feet. Hewitt and Madison Development Group will present their plans to the city's <a href="http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/LUIB/Notice.aspx?BID=730&NID=13886">Design Review Board on July 18 at 8:00 p.m.</a></p> <p>My TCW: Take these folks at their word that they'll preserve the building's old functions (dense, relatively affordable retail), but citizens should keep their eye on this project. Go to the design review meeting and ask questions. This block is exemplary of the neighborhood's useful stock of character buildings, and successful community pressure for good design will set <strong>precedent heading into the next development cycle</strong>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/28/architcetural-drawings-released-for-bauhaus-block-development#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14051249&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/28/architcetural-drawings-released-for-bauhaus-block-development?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14051249&id=comments 15 Architectural Drawings Released for Bauhaus Block Development A rendering of the preserved Timken Building (left) and preserved Melrose Building (right) with the new proposed structure being proposed by Madison Development Group HEWITT Thu, 28 Jun 2012 13:22:15 -0700 The Stranger NIMBYs Shouldn't Lose Their Shit Over 24 to 40 Story Towers in South Lake Union http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/26/nimbys-shouldnt-lose-their-shit-over-24-to-40-story-towers-in-south-lake-union http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/26/nimbys-shouldnt-lose-their-shit-over-24-to-40-story-towers-in-south-lake-union Dominic Holden <p>Mayor Mike McGinn's office announced a new "zoning proposal for South Lake Union" yesterday in a press release that, strangely, didn't explain what that zoning proposal would be (or acknowledge that it will cause some neighbors to shit <strong>cinder blocks</strong>—which I'll explain in a bit). However, his office did boast that the plan would provide capacity for as many as 12,000 new housing units and office space for 22,000 new jobs. So I got a copy of the proposed zoning map, which would raise heights up to 400 feet high along Denny Way and 240 feet throughout most of the remaining neighborhood. </p> <p>Here's an <strong>autumnal-hued diagram</strong>:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/4c85/1340745422-snapshot_2012-06-26_13-12-28.jpg" alt="South Lake Union: Current height limits in the area range from from 40 feet to 125 feet--as you can see in these maps here and here." title="South Lake Union: Current height limits in the area range from 40 feet to 125 feet--as you can see in these maps here and here. " width="500" height="597" /><ul><li class="imageCredit"></li><li class="imageCaption">South Lake Union: Current height limits in the area range from 40 feet to 125 feet—as you can see in these maps <a href="http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/zoningmaps/zmap101.htm">here</a> and <a href="http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/zoningmaps/zmap102.htm">here</a>. </li></ul></div></p> <p>Brace yourself for renewed howls from residents on the western slope of Capitol Hill and other neighborhoods who could <strong>lose their views of the Space Needle</strong>. (I've written about this view <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/05/if_not_there_then_where">controversy</a>, the earlier <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/maybe_this_will_shut_up_those_my_view_ni">proposals</a>, the community board stacked with <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/poor-planning/Content?oid=662437">real-estate interests</a>, and assorted <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/2008/06/maybe_this_will_shut_up_those_my_view_ni">outcry</a> when the planning began more than four years ago under former mayor Greg Nickels.)</p> <p>The inevitable howls can and should be ignored. There are three reasons why: </p> <p>First: This proposal <strong>won't create a wall of buildings</strong>. It would limit development to two towers per block, and it would, in buildings over 160 feet, limit their floor size to 10,500 square feet. Furthermore, residential towers could not cover more than half the property. This is to say, taller buildings will be set back from the street with many bright, view-friendly gaps between them.</p> <p>Second: Simply adding development <em>capacity</em> doesn't result in tall buildings being developed on every lot. Take downtown, where real estate is more valuable, transportation is better, and the location is just—well—more <em>desirable</em>: Lots of squat buildings still remain among the skyscrapers. Even though taller buildings are allowed downtown (even infinite heights!), no one has built the Burj Alki. In the Denny Triangle due north of downtown, many lots are still undeveloped even though the zoning capacity reaches 400 feet. So when the development financing market picks up again—pray!!—it won't concentrate new construction solely in one part of town. It will be dispersed, with a few (hopefully nice) tall new buildings in South Lake Union.</p> <p>Third: <strong>Views of skyscrapers are awesome</strong>, as I've said before. In fact, that’s what you should see when you look out the window in the middle of the city. If you want to see the water or mountains, Seattle will always have plenty of those views—just not from the middle of downtown. </p> <p>But the <strong>test for McGinn</strong> is in finishing what Nickels started by getting this legislation passed. Seattle City Council member Richard Conlin, who chairs the council's land-use committee, hasn't seen the mayor's proposal yet because the mayor hasn't yet transmitted it. (McGinn spokesman Aaron Pickus says it's coming soon.) That said, Conlin say that rezoning is "essential" to making South Lake Union an urban center. "Briefings have presented an attractive set of ideas," says Conlin, "but I need to see which of those actually wound up in the legislation."</p> <p>When the council does consider it, <strong>may the Force be with them overcoming the Dark Side of the NIMBYs</strong>. May they have the fortitude to withstand superficial complaints from those who don't want their city to look and function, you know, like <em>a city</em>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/26/nimbys-shouldnt-lose-their-shit-over-24-to-40-story-towers-in-south-lake-union#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14021134&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/26/nimbys-shouldnt-lose-their-shit-over-24-to-40-story-towers-in-south-lake-union?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=14021134&id=comments 21 NIMBYs Shouldn't Lose Their Shit Over 24 to 40 Story Towers in South Lake Union South Lake Union: Current height limits in the area range from from 40 feet to 125 feet--as you can see in these maps <a href="http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/zoningmaps/zmap101.htm">here</a> and <a href="http://clerk.ci.seattle.wa.us/~public/zoningmaps/zmap102.htm">here</a>. Tue, 26 Jun 2012 14:37:59 -0700 The Stranger Kitten Adoption Center Should Be Shelved in Proposed Eastlake Development Project http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/01/kitten-adoption-center-should-be-shelved-in-proposed-eastlake-development-project http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/01/kitten-adoption-center-should-be-shelved-in-proposed-eastlake-development-project Cienna Madrid <p>Slog tipper Ryan spotted this new development sign posted in the Eastlake Neighborhood:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:512px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/5f90/1338574537-awesomeproject-cropoutnumber.jpg" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/5f90/1338574537-awesomeproject-cropoutnumber.jpg" alt="Click to enlarge!" title="Click to enlarge!" width="500" height="373" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Slog tipper Ryan</li><li class="imageCaption">Click to enlarge</li></ul></div></p> <p><br />Here's a closer look at the proposed plan, if you can't read it in the above photo:</p> <p><div class="blogImageLeft" style="width:212px;"><a href="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/2cde/1338576117-screen_shot_2012-06-01_at_11.16.56_am.png" class="zoomable"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/2cde/1338576117-screen_shot_2012-06-01_at_11.16.56_am.png" alt="Click to enlarge." title="Click to enlarge." width="200" height="290" /></a><ul><li class="imageCredit">Slog tipper Ryan</li><li class="imageCaption">Click to enlarge, again.</li></ul></div>Having sat through countless design meetings, I'd like to help the developers troubleshoot a few problems right off the bat. For instance, is the roof <em>really</em> the best place for a marshmallow fire pit? </p> <p><br />And why do kittens get four times the floorspace of Dynamic Fort Construction? Kittens are tiny and <strong>they practically shit dander</strong>; many people are allergic. Wouldn't a succulent adoption center be more appropriate? And couldn't we then turn that center into more of a shelf—<strong>a succulent adoption shelf</strong>—and expand the Fort Construction?</p> <p>And will the Pillow Pile Pavilion feature feather pillows or cotton? Because I guarantee that some people in Seattle—especially the ones with kitten allergies who spend their evenings attending public design meetings—are also allergic to feathers. And wheat/gluten. And pavilions. And heights. And fun.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/01/kitten-adoption-center-should-be-shelved-in-proposed-eastlake-development-project#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13830375&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/06/01/kitten-adoption-center-should-be-shelved-in-proposed-eastlake-development-project?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13830375&id=comments 33 Kitten Adoption Center Should Be "Shelved" in Proposed Eastlake Development Project Click to enlarge! Slog tipper Ryan Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:46:07 -0700 The Stranger Developer Will Save Bauhaus Block in Its Entirety—But There Are a Couple Caveats http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/05/09/developer-will-save-bauhaus-block-in-its-entiretybut-there-are-a-couple-caveats http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/05/09/developer-will-save-bauhaus-block-in-its-entiretybut-there-are-a-couple-caveats Dominic Holden <p><div class="blogImageRight" style="width:212px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/5e2a/1336581188-bauhaus_kyle_johnson.jpg" alt="bauhaus_kyle_johnson.jpg" title="" width="200" height="350" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Kyle Johnson</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div><div>The firm that bought two old buildings in the Pike/Pine Conservation District with plans to develop a seven story structure on the site—triggering outcry about stripping away neighborhood character—says it will preserve the brick structures in their entirety. </div></p> <p><div>The company, Madison Development Group, intends to integrate the new, taller construction behind and above the older buildings, and it has made an agreement with <strong>Bauhaus, an iconic coffee shop on the block, to remain as a tenant</strong> once the building is retrofitted. A Kirkland-based developer with a rap-sheet of big-box chain stores, Madison Development Group had previously made no commitments to preserve the buildings, or even the facades. </div></p> <p><div>"It’s not a facade-ectomy," Natalie Price, a company spokeswoman, emphasized on the phone this morning. "<strong>They are literally keeping the buildings</strong>. They will be renewing, retrofitting them—which is great, because I think that is what people really wanted to see." </div></p> <p><div>Nonetheless, don't expect the old buildings to look <em>identical</em> after construction is complete, or to house exactly the same business. The old buildings will be integrated into the new development, which will consume nearly half a block, making it <strong>a giant hybrid of old and new construction</strong>. The newer part of the project, which will consume four parcels of land behind the older buildings, will partly overhang the two older buildings, Price explains. The new structure will cantilever within 15 feet of the existing roofline. I asked Price if Madison Development Group would maintain the interior spaces, keeping them suitable for small tenants, or if they would be retrofitted into the sort of shallow spaces typical of new developments that house chain stores. She said the developer "has an agreement with Bauhaus Coffee to be a tenant in the new building and they hope to retain some of the other existing tenants as well." As for the shape and functionality of the interior spaces, Price said she'd get back to me. </div></p> <p><div>Situated on East Pine Street, the nearly century-old <strong>Melrose Building and Timken Roller Bearing Company Building</strong> were both designated by the city as character structures in 2009. They represent Pike/Pine's stock of original auto-row buildings, now part of a "cultural overlay" district, and they contain an uncommon density of small retailers and activity. But despite the city's gestures toward conservation in the Pike/Pine corridor, there is little incentive for developers to maintain the building stock. (A few weeks back, I wrote a longish piece with plenty of background on these building and the development, which you can <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/another-one-bites-the-dust/Content?oid=13385766">read here</a>.)</div></p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/05/09/developer-will-save-bauhaus-block-in-its-entiretybut-there-are-a-couple-caveats#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13604762&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/05/09/developer-will-save-bauhaus-block-in-its-entiretybut-there-are-a-couple-caveats?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13604762&id=comments 15 Developer Will Save Bauhaus Block in Its Entirety—But There Are a Couple Caveats Kyle Johnson Wed, 09 May 2012 11:45:43 -0700 The Stranger Council Considers Legislation to Put Cafes and Corner Stores Right at Your Doorstep http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/11/council-considers-legislation-to-put-cafes-and-corner-stores-at-right-your-doorstep http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/11/council-considers-legislation-to-put-cafes-and-corner-stores-at-right-your-doorstep Cienna Madrid <p>This morning, the city council's land use committee discussed legislation to allow retail, restaurants, cafes, neighborhood corner stores, and other <strong>small-scale, pedestrian-friendly commercial businesses</strong> in select residential areas.</p> <p>Of course, these types of small shops already sparingly exist in Seattle neighborhoods—the problem is, currently they must be located within 800 feet (or roughly three blocks) of a commercial district. </p> <p>This legislation, which is part of an eight-part regulatory reform package being debated by the committee (including abolishing sexy, sexy parking requirements), would streamline city regulations to allow 2,500-square-foot commercial spaces <strong>in residential areas near urban centers and light rail stations</strong>. It would also allow larger retail and grocery stores (up to 10,000 square feet) to open up in a few select areas where they are currently prohibited.</p> <p>“What we’re talking about essentially is the corner store,” says committee chair Richard Conlin, “it’s the ecological approach. It’s about not restricting uses that are quite compatible” with multifamily residences.</p> <p>If approved, this reform would allow commercial retail to open up on roughly <strong>90 new blocks on Capitol Hill</strong>, for example (look! <a class="pdflink" href="http://www.thestranger.com/images/blogimages/2012/04/11/1334172635-capitol_hill_example.pdf" target="_blank">A map</a>!), further activating foot traffic in the already dense and popular neighborhood. It would also help small business owners around the city set up shop without committing to the <strong>pricier overhead</strong> of renting in business districts.</p> <p>"We're taking something that seems to work pretty well in the adjacent area and see if it works well in this area as well," says Conlin. "I don't think we're going to see negative impacts of this."</p> <p>And while it seems that the committee will eventually forward some iteration of the measure to the full council (members agreed on the basic principals of it), several details need to be hammered out at the committee’s May 9 meeting: Council member Tim Burgess recommended restricting the commercial uses to arterial streets only (which would <strong>reduce the eligible area by 60 percent city wide</strong>) and Conlin wants to restrict businesses to 2,000 square feet instead of 2,500. Committee members also seemed unsure of how to <strong>mitigate the noise from outdoor restaurant patios</strong> that would surely pop up in residential neighborhoods, leading to dramatically overwrought fights that I would then have to cover to hell and back.</p> <p>Absent from today’s agenda was further discussion of controversial legislation that would waive mandatory parking requirements for new residential developments within a quarter mile of frequent transit stops, but that didn’t stop people from testifying against the measure. “<strong>I’m all for [the changes], but</strong> it seems that if they don’t have parking in these new developments, people are just going to go and park on our street,” testified a Queen Anne resident named Craig.</p> <p>“This is not a regulatory reform package, this is a very biased, destructive package that will damage growth and reduce sustainability,” said Chris Leman, another concerned resident.</p> <p>The committee is tentatively slated to vote on the entire reform package on May 9.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/11/council-considers-legislation-to-put-cafes-and-corner-stores-at-right-your-doorstep#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13191805&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/11/council-considers-legislation-to-put-cafes-and-corner-stores-at-right-your-doorstep?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13191805&id=comments 0 Wed, 11 Apr 2012 12:37:03 -0700 The Stranger Residents, Property Owners Fight City Over Affordable Housing in Northgate http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/11/residents-property-owners-fight-city-over-affordable-housing-in-northgate http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/11/residents-property-owners-fight-city-over-affordable-housing-in-northgate Cienna Madrid <p>On April 9, the city Hearing Examiner's Office was packed tighter than a GOP vagina, as four groups filed appeals to block a Department of Planning and Development (DPD) recommendation to allow a family of Northgate property owners to raise their buildable property height 25 feet without committing to replace all of the 207 low-income apartments currently located there.</p> <p>Currently, the property owners would have to replace all of affordable town homes on the site (plus some) if they wanted to redevelop the property to its maximum height. But if the DPD's recommendation holds, they could redevelop several stories higher and build up to 3,128 new units, while only preserving between 94 and 156 units of affordable housing*. (Exhaustive <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/03/27/northgate-residents-pissed-at-city-for-potentially-costing-them-low-income-housing">backstory here</a> for your nap-inducing pleasure.)</p> <p>In their appeal statement, the Seattle Displacement Coalition argues that the DPD failed to assess the ramifications of losing 207 affordable apartments adjacent to the Northgate Mall and within walking distance of a transit hub and future light rail. "This rezone will cost the city <strong>$15-$20 million</strong> to replace them," says coalition leader John Fox. He estimates that each unit would cost at least $200,000 to build elsewhere, which the city would subsidize 30-40 percent.</p> <p>The Seattle Displacement Coalition—which always advocates for one-for-one replacement of affordable units during redevelopment projects—wasn't alone in lodging complaints. Three other groups of also appealed the DPD's decision, <strong>including the property owners themselves</strong>.</p> <p><small>*Housing considered affordable for a family of four living off an income of $33,500 to $52,244.</small></p> <p>· The Maple Leaf Community Council argues that the DPD's recommendation failed to consider the traffic and pedestrian impacts of the property redevelopment, <strong>"environmental harm to trees,"</strong> stormwater drainage issues, "inadequate mitigation of toxic dust from demolition," and, of course, the loss of affordable housing. </p> <p>"I would love to think we could get this decision remanded on the affordable housing component because it was so egregious," explains David Miller, director of the Maple Leaf Community Council, "but just in case, <strong>we're trying the kitchen sink approach</strong>."</p> <p>· Nearby property owner Sue Geving is also contesting the recommendation based on traffic and environmental concerns.</p> <p>As I previously mentioned, the DPD's recommendation came with several (arguably weak) caveats, among them, that the Mullally family preserve some affordable housing on site (three to five percent of its total rentable floor space) and commit to <strong>hosting that affordable housing for 50 years</strong>.</p> <p>· But lawyers for the Mullally family are protesting the DPD's caveats requiring them to build and keep any affordable housing on their property.</p> <p>What all this means is the City Hearing Examiner's office will be crowded on May 22, when these groups will all try and convince the hearing examiner to send the DPD's recommendation back to the department for revisions. The Hearing Examiner could also send it on to the City Council, which will ultimately decide the matter.</p> <p><strong>FIN</strong>.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/11/residents-property-owners-fight-city-over-affordable-housing-in-northgate#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13320368&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/11/residents-property-owners-fight-city-over-affordable-housing-in-northgate?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13320368&id=comments 4 Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:55:40 -0700 The Stranger Rumor Confirmed: Melrose Building Sold, to Be Replaced By Seven-Story Development http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/06/rumor-melrose-building-sold http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/06/rumor-melrose-building-sold Dominic Holden <p><div style="text-align:center;"><iframe width="425" height="350" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" src="http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=google+maps+melrose+and+pine&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Pine+St+%26+Melrose+Ave,+Seattle,+King,+Washington&gl=us&ll=47.615237,-122.327906&spn=0.01231,0.017595&t=m&z=14&layer=c&cbll=47.615215,-122.326806&panoid=z5V99TXW5yp4lJGVmgbLww&cbp=12,229.5,,1,-2.47&source=embed&output=svembed"></iframe><br /><small><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?oe=utf-8&client=firefox-a&q=google+maps+melrose+and+pine&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Pine+St+%26+Melrose+Ave,+Seattle,+King,+Washington&gl=us&ll=47.615237,-122.327906&spn=0.01231,0.017595&t=m&z=14&layer=c&cbll=47.615215,-122.326806&panoid=z5V99TXW5yp4lJGVmgbLww&cbp=12,229.5,,1,-2.47&source=embed" style="color:#0000FF;text-align:left">View Larger Map</a></small></div></p> <p><strong>UPDATE</strong>: I've confirmed with a spokesperson for Madison Development Group that the company is under contract to buy the property and has <a href="http://web1.seattle.gov/DPD/permitstatus/Project.aspx?id=3013342">filed a proposal with the city</a> to develop a seven-story apartment building on the site. The spokesperson says that construction is slated to begin in June 2013 and will last for roughly 18 months. All told, the development will consume roughly half the city block (the two buildings on Pine and one property behind them) and <strong>"There will not be a tanning salon,"</strong> the spokesperson added, while explaining the type of retail they hope to attract will remain characteristic with the Pike/Pine neighborhood. </p> <p>"We are Capitol Hill fans—we love the neighborhood and we understand how important it is to get this block right," says Jim Gallaugher, a partner in the Madison Development Group. "Our goal is to keep the character of Pine Street the way it is today—and to build on that culture with a project the neighborhood will embrace."</p> <p>Madison Development has constructed several developments that fuse apartments and grocery stores, including the <a href="http://www.mdgllc.net/projects/mixed/001.htm">Safeway on 23 and Madison</a>.</p> <p><strong>Here's the original post</strong>: Right now, there's no confirmation—despite calls to the rumor generator and the property owner—but according to the Facebook page of Spine and Crown Books, the beautiful warren of shops on Pine Street between Melrose and Bellevue has been sold:</p> <blockquote><p>Yep. They sold the building out from under us. June 2013, the whole block closes. That's Mud Bay, Edies, Le Frock, Wall of Sound, Spine and Crown, Scout, Vutique, and Bauhaus. Our spaces will be a hole in the ground thereafter.</p></blockquote> <p>The bookseller adds:</p> <blockquote><p>All will go, as construction will take 18 months. Some (probably Bauhaus) may come back, but the rest of us will probably not be able to afford the new rents.</p></blockquote> <p>King County property tax records show the two adjacent buildings belong to M&P Partnership. Calls to them and Spine and Crown have gone unanswered this morning. But we'll see. If the parcels have been sold to a buyer who plans to sit on them, that's one thing. If they've been sold to a developer who wants to demolish them, that's another. I'm a huge density proponent—yay, density!!—but these sorts of rental spaces, featuring tightly-packed storefronts on pedestrian thoroughfares, are rarely replaced by new construction. New mixed-use building rarely add the affordable, deep retail density that it displaces, the sort of spaces that contribute to the street activity that makes neighborhoods like this so attractive to renters in the first place.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/06/rumor-melrose-building-sold#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13287042&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/06/rumor-melrose-building-sold?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13287042&id=comments 98 Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:47:48 -0700 The Stranger City Grants El Centro's Petition to Beef Up Property Height http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/02/city-grants-el-centros-petition-to-beef-up-property-height http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/02/city-grants-el-centros-petition-to-beef-up-property-height Cienna Madrid <p>After <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/plotting-against-progress/Content?oid=3493378">two years of neighborhood in-fighting</a>, city lobbying, and torturously long debate, today the Seattle City Council granted El Centro de la Raza's petition to build a 65-foot mixed use building on its Beacon Hill property—right next to the Beacon Hill light rail station. The development will include 115 units of affordable housing, a cultural performance center, and office and commercial space, according to the civil rights organization's executive director, Estella Ortega.</p> <p>"We've seen the [building] designs, <strong>they look very neat!</strong>" enthused council member Richard Conlin. All eight present council members (Rasmussen was absent) voted to approve the change today, prompting eruptive applause in the Council Chambers.</p> <p>"This decision comes just in time for us in <strong>celebrating our 40th anniversary</strong>," Ortega explained. "We're meeting with architects next week."</p> <p>Neighbors famously fought the change in 2010 by arguing that giving El Centro an extra 25 feet of building height (the former limit was 40 feet) would result in a <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/plotting-against-progress/Content?oid=3493378">"loss of breathable space"</a> as well as "other aesthetic impacts."</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/02/city-grants-el-centros-petition-to-beef-up-property-height#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13246697&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/04/02/city-grants-el-centros-petition-to-beef-up-property-height?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13246697&id=comments 20 Mon, 02 Apr 2012 14:46:15 -0700 The Stranger One Hundred Punks Crash City Design Meeting to Save the Funhouse http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/03/22/one-hundred-punks-crash-city-design-meeting-to-save-the-funhouse http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/03/22/one-hundred-punks-crash-city-design-meeting-to-save-the-funhouse Cienna Madrid <p>The Funhouse—known to tourists as "<strong>that creepy clown place</strong>"—has been a popular, divy punk rock club operating in the criss-crossed shadows of the Space Needle and the monorail since Halloween night, 2003. But the building may soon be <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/03/13/funhouse-proprietor-brian-foss-speaks-on-development">bulldozed for condos</a>:<br /><blockquote><em>The proposal is for a <a href="http://web1.seattle.gov/dpd/luib/Notice.aspx?BID=698&NID=13380">seven-story mixed-use structure</a> containing 106-112 dwelling units and four live-work units. Parking for 85-87 vehicles to be provided at and below grade. Existing structures to be demolished.</em></p></blockquote> <p>Last night, over 100 Funhouse fans packed a meeting* of one of the city's design review boards, held at the Queen Anne community center, to hear plans to replace their club and a two-story office building on the corner of 5th Ave North—a desolate block punctuated by a McDonalds and Ride the Ducks HQ—with a 70-foot condo project, courtesy of NK Architects. The room was very Jets vs. Suits. Check it out:</p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/da7a/1332439163-architect.jpg" alt="Wait till you see our amenities!" title="Wait till you see our amenities!" width="400" height="307" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Kelly O</li><li class="imageCaption">"Wait till you see our amenities!"</li></ul></div></p> <p><div style="text-align:center;">Versus this:</div></p> <p><div class="blogImageCenter" style="width:412px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/eebe/1332439236-punk.jpg" alt="punk.jpg" title="" width="400" height="347" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Kelly O</li><li class="imageCaption">"My amenity is a boot up your ass."</li></ul></div></p> <p>Unsurprisingly, the crowd was not appeased by the news that their punk club would be sacrificed to give yuppies stunning city views.</p> <p><small>*Roughly 100 more people than usually attend design review meetings.</small></p> <p>As Jens Muller project manager for the architect firm, explained to the bristling crowd awaiting a chance to speak, condo residents would enjoy "<strong>literally three landmark view directions</strong>—to the west, the Space Needle and Seattle Center, [to the east] Lake Union and Mount Baker, and south towards downtown with maybe some harbor action," explained a project manager for the architect firm, as the crowd waiting for its chance to submit public comment. </p> <p>"I’m frustrated that they want to turn a beloved music venue into a vertical residence—basically furthering their mission of <strong>making Seattle’s downtown nightlife and music scene obsolete</strong>," said nightlife music veteran Amanda Rotter while waiting in line to enter the meeting. "Look at our entertainment business—it's what attracted Starbucks and other big businesses to Seattle. I wish we could get back to that old-school industry, I really do."</p> <p>But design review members weren't interested in hearing emotional arguments against the development—their job is only to collect public feedback on the design proposal itself. "Please keep your comments limited to suggestions for [the presenters]," explained one member, repeatedly.</p> <p>So they obliged. "Are you talking about soundproofing the north face?" one woman asked. "Because it's incredibly difficult [to drown out] the <strong>Duck tours</strong> going every hour. I know I wouldn’t drop a couple hundred grand on a condo with that as my nearest neighbor."</p> <p>And frankly, the design wasn't that inspiring—instead of playing to the neighborhood's current strengths of daytime tourism traffic and weird, gritty nightlife, the developers chose to cut all options for retail on the street level (basically killing street activity for the whole block). "<strong>Retail isn't a good idea</strong> [here]," Muller argued, "it wouldn't survive." Really? Retail wouldn't survive in building sandwiched between the Space Needle and Downtown, and our new Amazon basin? Are you fucking kidding?</p> <p><div class="blogImageLeft" style="width:212px;"><img src="http://www.thestranger.com/binary/7c7c/1332439561-punks2.jpg" alt="punks2.jpg" title="" width="200" height="158" /><ul><li class="imageCredit">Kelly O</li><li class="imageCaption"></li></ul></div>The crowd's criticisms were smart and pretty spot-on. Overall, it was an strong showing from Funhouse supporters, and as proprietor Brian Foss pointed out last week, <a href="http://lineout.thestranger.com/lineout/archives/2012/03/13/funhouse-proprietor-brian-foss-speaks-on-development">this deal is by no means finalized</a>. </p> <p><br />But music lovers should be steeled for the shitty, nearly-inevitably reality that <strong>their club will someday be bulldozed</strong>. It's between downtown, South Lake Union, and Seattle Center, all of which are attracting more development. </p> <p>I really commend their efforts though; the Funhouse is worth preserving. But at this point, I only hope its fans will work as hard to relocate their club as they're now spending trying to save it.</p> <p>[ <a href="http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/03/22/one-hundred-punks-crash-city-design-meeting-to-save-the-funhouse#comments">Comment on this story</a> ]</p> <p>[ <a href="http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13119376&id=comments">Subscribe to the comments on this story</a> ]</p> City Boom http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/03/22/one-hundred-punks-crash-city-design-meeting-to-save-the-funhouse?show=comments#readerComments http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Rss.xml?oid=13119376&id=comments 44 One Hundred Punks Crash City Design Meeting to Save the Funhouse "Wait till you see our amenities!" Kelly O Thu, 22 Mar 2012 11:38:14 -0700 The Stranger