Reality-BasedTM Political Numbers from Nicholas Beaudrot
Electoral Math
Reality-BasedTM Political Numbers from Nicholas Beaudrot
Make. It. Stop. | Home | Useful (?) Corrections Department
From a KING-5 wrap-up of last week's "life without the viaduct" pitch to the Downtown Seattle Association:
Ground was broken ceremonially today for downtown's biggest tower project called Escala. The $350 million project will be centered at Fourth and Virginia. The view condos are starting at a half million dollars and the developer, people with money, are buying. ["and the developer says, people with money are buying"—ed.?]"Baby boomers who are downsized," said Joe Strobele, Escala spokesman. "They're doing their duty, put there kids through school, they had good careers, good business. They want to buy their time."
I have nothing against fiftyish workaholics trying to make the most of their newfound free time by living in the city. But while an influx of new, childless residents is a short-term boost to the city's tax base, it shows a neglect of family-oriented housing in the recent construction boom. Seattle is already has the second-fewest children of any major US city at 15.6% of the population, behind San Francisco (14.5%). Studio and one-bedroom high-rises—in an area of town with very few schools—are unlikely to meet the needs of potential residents with school age children. Filling the Escala and other downtown towers will likely hasten the decline in the percentage of young Seattlites.
High density condos are great, but higher density housing where you can raise a family is what the city needs most. At some point, Seattle will have to consider investing the windfall from condo development into quality-of-life improvements—school construction near downtown or mass transit, subsidizing full-service grocery stores, driving away open-air drug dealing, and whatever park space you can scrounge up—that will help the city compete with the suburbs.
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updated by Nicholas Beaudrot on 05:25 11 February 2007
