Interesting that this article has a clear bias that Amazon is making Seattle better, starting from > Inevitably, the company's growing presence is making it a

Interesting that this article has a clear bias that Amazon is making Seattle better, starting from > Inevitably, the company's growing presence is making it a scapegoat for common urban woes such as traffic jams and rising rents > New, luxury, one-bedroom apartments packed with amenities that appeal to young urban tech workers fetch upwards of $4,000 a month, putting them out of reach of the Starbucks barista. This makes it sound like only luxury apartments are becoming expensive and baristas are upset because they feel entitled to that privilege. Rent at all levels is raising dramatically, 12% per year on Capitol Hill where I live. http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2014/09/seattle-rents-rising-faster-than-any-other-major-u-s-city-even-faster-on-capitol-hill/ http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2014/09/seattle-rents-risi... A lot of my friends work odd jobs as book editors, community managers, etc. and they are being priced out of the area. This is a real issue that warrants attention, unless you want everyone to move out of your neighborhoods except the well-to-do. > To some long-time Seattleites, the new South Lake Union feels sterile, like an open-air mall. Wide sidewalks are devoid of cigarette butts and shattered beer bottles. Street people banging bongos and strumming acoustic guitars with mangy dogs in tow, a common sight in Seattle’s retail and financial districts, are conspicuously absent. So the complainers are lamenting the lack of "beer bottles and cigarette butts," nobody "banging bongos" on the streets? Apparently failing to notice the "wide sidewalks?" What's wrong with them? South Lake Union feel sterile because it's jammed between Denny, Mercer, I-5, and 99, four major throughways. Nobody has tried to urbanize that area for a reason. More power to Amazon for building it up though, and I hope it gains a neighborhood feel over time. I'm a bit skeptical; it feels to overwhelming, noisy, and overly corporate, cut off from the rest of the city. > Meanwhile, the Space Needle's owners have complained that all the towers being thrown up by Amazon and developers hoping to house its workers are crowding out views of the aging tourist attraction. I guess it's important that our iconic Space Needle is "aging." Yeah, nobody wants to see old stuff!