4 ms·

The problem in Seattle is that it's been flooded by highly paid tech workers. Our population has exploded in the past decade (over 21% increase). The city counc

by EB66 4y ago

The problem in Seattle is that it's been flooded by highly paid tech workers. Our population has exploded in the past decade (over 21% increase). The city council has pushed through tons of rezoning and construction has been faster here than elsewhere in the country but it can't keep up with demand. So, it may not be polite to point it out, but it's not inaccurate to say that the problem is in fact people like the OP.

BlargMcLarg 4y ago
And the ridiculous concentration of wealth caused by tech companies able to hire those highly paid tech workers goes without blame? It's fairly inaccurate to present it in a way people like OP are the only issue here.
- EB66 4y ago
  Of course they're not the only issue -- no one's arguing that. What we're talking about is the negative reaction from other Seattlites to highly paid newcomers who complain about the weather and high prices.
gedy 4y ago
20% increase in 10 years? Wow what an impossible number to accommodate. /s This likely points to slow bureaucracies or people fighting change or growth at all costs.
- EB66 4y ago
  It doesn't sound like you're familiar with the area. Seattle is geographically constrained and there was already no empty land available for development in 2010 when the latest surge of new residents began. We can only accommodate new people by tearing down structures that already exist and replacing them with denser structures. > This likely points to slow bureaucracies or people fighting change or growth at all costs. There are NIMBY elements here, but the city hasn't been shying away from development. It's a completely different story up here than compared to San Francisco. Take a look at the city skyline from 2010 to 2020 -- it's completely different. But there hasn't just been development in the downtown core. In 2017, the city council approved major upzoning changes in 27 neighborhoods across the city. It was passed unanimously. Lots of single-family housing zoning went away and tons of construction has followed, but it can't keep pace with new arrivals. In areas where single-family housing still exists, the city changed zoning laws to allow backyard ADUs. The number of backyard cottages exploded and many of them are being rented out. Is the situation perfect? Absolutely not -- housing prices are still sky high. But it's a vastly different situation than the one you've dismissively alluded to.
  - kaesar14 4y ago
    Seattle is still only the 10th densest city in the country.
  - coenhyde 4y ago
    Land utilization is always close to 100% in cities. It's a misnomer that cities can "run out of land". Cities go up, they increase density. If they can't go up, it is usually because of zoning restrictions. And that's a choice of local residents and authorities.
    - EB66 4y ago
      I don't think that's true at all. Do you have data to support it? Everything I've seen indicates that most large cities do have a significant percentage of vacant land ( https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13574809.2016.1167589 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13574809.2016.11... ) and that cities like Seattle, SF, NYC, etc are indeed unique in their geographic constraints and total land utilization. What I'm really talking about what I say "geographically constrained" is the elasticity of housing supply. Cities like Seattle, SF and NYC have less elastic housing supply in part because of their current land utilization and geographic constraints hemming in new development. That's a pretty well understood phenomenon.
      - coenhyde 4y ago
        How do you think NYC supports the population it does? Manhattan is not filled single dwelling houses, but at one time it was. It was much easier to build in NYC in the past than now. If they applied the same zoning restrictions then as SF does now, it never would have become the city that it is today.
kipchak 4y ago
From what I can find it looks like Seattle's growth rate was about 2% annually from the 1980s to 2000, then tapered off to 1.2% from 2000 to 2019.[1] I'm not very familiar with Seattle, but maybe that growth has been extremely localized? [1]https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/23140/seattle/population https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/23140/seattle/population
- EB66 4y ago
  You're looking at numbers for the Seattle metro area. The story with the city itself is different. The population went from 608k in 2010 to 737k in 2020. That's a huge jump for a city that's geographically constrained and already had no empty land available for development.

by EB66 4y ago

BlargMcLarg 4y ago

And the ridiculous concentration of wealth caused by tech companies able to hire those highly paid tech workers goes without blame? It's fairly inaccurate to present it in a way people like OP are the only issue here.

EB66 4y ago
Of course they're not the only issue -- no one's arguing that. What we're talking about is the negative reaction from other Seattlites to highly paid newcomers who complain about the weather and high prices.

gedy 4y ago

20% increase in 10 years? Wow what an impossible number to accommodate. /s This likely points to slow bureaucracies or people fighting change or growth at all costs.

EB66 4y ago
It doesn't sound like you're familiar with the area. Seattle is geographically constrained and there was already no empty land available for development in 2010 when the latest surge of new residents began. We can only accommodate new people by tearing down structures that already exist and replacing them with denser structures. > This likely points to slow bureaucracies or people fighting change or growth at all costs. There are NIMBY elements here, but the city hasn't been shying away from development. It's a completely different story up here than compared to San Francisco. Take a look at the city skyline from 2010 to 2020 -- it's completely different. But there hasn't just been development in the downtown core. In 2017, the city council approved major upzoning changes in 27 neighborhoods across the city. It was passed unanimously. Lots of single-family housing zoning went away and tons of construction has followed, but it can't keep pace with new arrivals. In areas where single-family housing still exists, the city changed zoning laws to allow backyard ADUs. The number of backyard cottages exploded and many of them are being rented out. Is the situation perfect? Absolutely not -- housing prices are still sky high. But it's a vastly different situation than the one you've dismissively alluded to.
- kaesar14 4y ago
  Seattle is still only the 10th densest city in the country.
- coenhyde 4y ago
  Land utilization is always close to 100% in cities. It's a misnomer that cities can "run out of land". Cities go up, they increase density. If they can't go up, it is usually because of zoning restrictions. And that's a choice of local residents and authorities.
  - EB66 4y ago
    I don't think that's true at all. Do you have data to support it? Everything I've seen indicates that most large cities do have a significant percentage of vacant land ( https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13574809.2016.1167589 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13574809.2016.11... ) and that cities like Seattle, SF, NYC, etc are indeed unique in their geographic constraints and total land utilization. What I'm really talking about what I say "geographically constrained" is the elasticity of housing supply. Cities like Seattle, SF and NYC have less elastic housing supply in part because of their current land utilization and geographic constraints hemming in new development. That's a pretty well understood phenomenon.
    - coenhyde 4y ago
      How do you think NYC supports the population it does? Manhattan is not filled single dwelling houses, but at one time it was. It was much easier to build in NYC in the past than now. If they applied the same zoning restrictions then as SF does now, it never would have become the city that it is today.

kipchak 4y ago

From what I can find it looks like Seattle's growth rate was about 2% annually from the 1980s to 2000, then tapered off to 1.2% from 2000 to 2019.[1] I'm not very familiar with Seattle, but maybe that growth has been extremely localized? [1]https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/23140/seattle/population https://www.macrotrends.net/cities/23140/seattle/population

EB66 4y ago
You're looking at numbers for the Seattle metro area. The story with the city itself is different. The population went from 608k in 2010 to 737k in 2020. That's a huge jump for a city that's geographically constrained and already had no empty land available for development.