Comments
Please wait...
Comments are closed.
Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.
is a proud member of the
media network
media network
All contents © Index Newspapers LLC
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
800 Maynard Ave S, Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98134
The Freeman name is fouled by their opportunistic greed and narcissism.
Joi M D
It's indisputable that Miller Freeman, the grandfather of Kemper Freeman Jr., was at best "wary" of Japanese Americans. (The "wary" quote comes from Generations, the book Kemper Freeman Jr. himself paid to have written about his family.)
However, Neiwert, the local expert on this, told me he hasn't been able to find any evidence of the Freeman family actually buying land from Japanese-American strawberry farmers (or snatching it up after they were interned) in order to build Bellevue Square.
I know this story goes around. But what appears to have happened is a bit more complicated.
Bottom line: The land for the original Bellevue Square, as I understand it, and as Neiwert explained it to me, was purchased from major eastside landowners who were not themselves Japanese-American.
This is what OWS is all against and about.
"I have no care how people get [to] here [Bellevue Square]. But I need them to get here...
Of course, he cares how they leave. Bellevue Square exists to sell overpriced knick-knacks that nobody needs. Hauling away large poundage of said knick-knacks has less to do with race, class, or income, and more to do with your lower vertebrae. Persons who have to haul all of that crap on foot to and from a light-rail station will buy fewer pounds of said overpriced crap, which means less money for hereditary Lord Freeman. He wants our tax money to subsidize the automobiles which make crap-hauling possible, not the light rail which moves more persons per hour than any road lane possibly could. (Note: persons, not crap. Lord Freeman parts company with us on the question of which is more important.)
In this article SLOG presents census data showing Washington State to be among the most "equal" states. I dove deeper into the source data, and what it suggests is that majority of the inequality comes from the largest dense metropolitan areas. Here's the link to my comments detailing this:
http://www.thestranger.com/slog/archives…
So, in effect, the Republican ideal of a low tax, personal transit, sprawling region ends up distributing the wealth and reducing inequality the most...whereas the high density, high tax, mass transit style makes it more unfair for most.
But then again...we all know Libs are Royalists!
Portland Mercury
Q&A: What the Hell is Going on With TriMet's Budget?
Posted by Sarah Mirk on Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 4:10 PM
TriMet's board meeting this morning dropped a bombshell: The public transit agency looks like it will have a $12-17 million budget hole this coming year, instead of a balanced budget like they'd hoped. The finance issues going on with TriMet are super complicated, so to get the skinny, I called up Michael Andersen, who writes and edits Portland "low-car newsmagazine" Portland Afoot (which is great and you should subscribe!).
MERCURY: So this means big cuts, right? What is TriMet looking at cutting?
MICHAEL ANDERSEN: I think it's almost certainly going to involve service cuts. TriMet's basically got to choose whether to eliminate routes completely or cut service across the board. When you make service worse across the system, you make it worse for people who are trying to build it into their life. There might also be mid-year fare increases. And there's a continuing fight about LIFT services, they might reduce the area for where they do LIFT pick up.
Are there any ideas for revenue or ways to not cut service across the board?
Board Member Steve Clark specifically said that ending the operation of WES should be on the table. Right now, TriMet loses $18 per ride on WES, versus on the Green Line, they lose 92 cents per ride. I'm also writing about this guy's idea for a three percent tax hike on hotel rooms, which could generate $13 million in additional revenue for transit. Tourists are people who come to the city, benefit from the service, but don't pay any payroll tax. Another idea is there's about 3,000 parking spots in TriMet Park & Ride lots that are full every day. If TriMet charged each of those people $1 every day to park, they'd have $800,000 a year from that.
Is there any way TriMet can stop funding big capital projects and put that money toward service instead?
Most of the money for capital projects has to be spent on capital projects. However, starting in 2015, TriMet is going to be taking more money out of the general fund to pay off bonds for the Milwaukie Light Rail project. Its agreed to put itself more deeply in debt with money it doesn't have. If they wanted to stop that, they could, but that would mean not building a rail line they already have a bridge for. So for the most part, no.
Break down for me what's causing the budget shortfall.
TriMet identified three forces. Obviously there's a lot going on but here's what they identify as the variables: Slower wage growth than they were hoping for, higher costs of the union contract, and the allocation of less federal operating funds than in previous transportation bills.
The union issues here are confusing. What's going on with their contract fight?
There are two things moving at the same time. First, the union is fighting with TirMet over their current contract, which is what has the drivers pissed off right now. This year, TriMet director Neil McFarlane reversed past practices and froze drivers' wages and froze the level of their health care benefits at its 2010 rate. The other moving part is that TriMet and the union are in negotiations over the new contract and according to the union, TriMet brought a bunch of new stuff to the table all of a sudden without going through the proper process. A judge found that to be correct and, as a result, the final offer TriMet was able to make to the union wound up having to be more pro-union than they had wanted it to be.
What sort of things is the contract fight over?
It's a list of about 15 things, mostly relating to healthcare and retirement benefits. The thing that TriMet has to worry about most in the future is retiree medical cost. That's off the charts for any public agency in Oregon, I think. The management has decided to go after that in part because they haven't saved any money for the increasing medical costs. TriMet's broke, but they're going to become broker.
How do TriMet's benefits compare to other public agencies'?
It's really, really good. And that's part of the reason the agency can retain good bus drivers.
But it's also part of the reason why they're broke.
Yup. For example, TriMet's current deductible for unionized employees is $0 for the individual, compared to $1500 for the Lane Transit District in Eugene, $300 for employees at Multnomah County, $250 at Washington County.
If you don't like dense, successful, transit-rich cities.
"So, in effect, the Republican ideal of a low tax, personal transit, sprawling region ends up distributing the wealth and reducing inequality the most...whereas the high density, high tax, mass transit style makes it more unfair for most."
Are you Herman Cain? Because you just made all that shit up.
Close, but even worse... It gives eastside residents the option of parking downtown Bellevue and riding the train to downtown Seattle, effectively converting Kemper’s business model of free parking + shopping into just free parking. It’s hard to make a buck in that racket.
The federal government gave the money to Atlanta, which built MARTA.
Kemper Freeman Senior was also investigated for being successful in acquiring real estate options for land that would be benefited by planned freeways. The options were purchased while the details of the routes were confidential. For the same sort of thing, one or two other east side real estate developers went to jail.
So if you want to blame one family for this region's having a transport problem that is now probably too expensive to fix, it’s the Freemans.
He used his considerable wealth and influence to create an atmosphere of hatred toward Japanese-Americans farming on the Eastside both before and after Pearl Harbor. After WW II ended, only 11 of the original 60 farming families returned to their land. They faced intense discrimination. Several prominent Japanese community members had their houses burned down.
"Fallow fields, stolen equipment and harsh winter months forced many Japanese farmers to sell their land. The once prosperous Japanese American farming community had essentially died."
See the article "Edge City: Contests and Conflict Surrounding the Development of the Eastside" for more information.
http://sites.google.com/site/alinehistor…
Miller Freeman was an expert at harnessing racial fears to make himself richer at the expense of hard-working,law-abiding American citizens and immigrants.
Boycott Bellevue Square and all other enterprises owned by the Freeman family; their empire is built on racism and blood.
SunsetSu
Thank you. The Stranger, at least in the editorial department IS Seattle's only newspaper.
Am I correct in concluding that he feels entitled to this ridiculous honorific because of brief service in the State Legislature nearly 40 years ago?
I always laugh when there's inherent contradictions in the free market morons' reasoning. Namely, Michael Ennis, who thinks Eli is a "social engineer." Just because lightrail is not used now, doesn't mean it won't be used with growth and when there's more alternatives. The author also argues that this is a drain on society but fails to connect his sentiments that people "choose" automobiles to the fact that society has voted overwhelmingly to fund mass transportation in King County. He also fails to understand the concept of "choice."
Also, just because one has made money off of people, doesn't make him a seer into their desires. The market efficiency myth is predicated on rational actors where there are MANY irrational actors in the system all the time.
How much is Tim Eyman paying you?
Paragraphs are a wonderful thing. Please learn how to use them. Then your half-baked notions and simple-minded proclimations might at least be readable.
So much for the 1%!
Granted, I am old. And since almost all the respectable shopping options (Frederick & Nelson, I.Magnin, Klopensteins, Woolworths) have died off, getting me into a girdle and hat and all the other things it takes to do nice shopping trip has become more and more like prying a barnacle off a battleship. But still - Bellevue Square has so many things against it....
1.) It's in Bellevue (Which is just West Omaha with better weather)
2.) it looks like some sort of government vacination Bunker, what with all the parking garages.
3.) it has all of the stores of Southcenter, with none of the rustic charm - and who wants to go to Southcenter?
So, on those semi-decade occasions when I feel the need to buy a new frock or get my mink refreshed, I find it best to just have my driver drop me off at the Westlake Station, or the First Avenue Sears. They understand people like me.
It's so heartbreaking that it just isn't there anymore.
Try to be understanding. Feel his pain. The 1% have different sensitivities than the rest of us.
And speaking of F&N, it was Freeman who finally killed it when he wouldn't go along with the plan to sell the suburban stores to Marshall's or Mervyn's or one of those dreadful discount houses. Not that I really blame him for that, but it was a shame nonetheless.
Yes, their demises are sad reminders of corporate greed (i.e. Pacific Place).
It's a shame that really good department stores have been savagely eaten up by outlet malls and discount warehouses.
You're right--I wouldn't drive all the way to Bellevue to shop, either. That's a long way to the southeast for me, and a long wait in bumper-to-bumper on the 405 just for a pair of boots.
It's interesting - I have a little scanner app on my phone, and it tells me the price of the item, and what the various stores are selling it for. Wal-Mart is seldom the lowest price, yet everyone thinks it is cheapest place to shop. Because of that, they put up with their dreadful stores and loutish customers. They're getting ripped off, without even a chandelier or two to make them feel special.
WOW---you can actually scan an item on your PHONE??
Boy, we sure have entered a high-tech age, haven't we?
How soon before we officially enter The Jetson Age of
"Food-o-Rack-o-Cycles" in which everybody has "push button fingers" from dialing their meals? I guess I'm really dating myself here!
So--um, let me see if I get this straight: mind-numbing 24-hour gridlock is supposed to be better?
If I-5 and I-405 are parking lots, and Bellevue Square suddenly becomes increasingly inaccessible because of the lack of transit, what incentive do people have for shopping at Freeman's mall?
Ever consider THAT possibility?
Personally, I'm for light rail, and anything that salvages what's left of the environment by keeping zillions of cars and trucks off the roads.
Here's hoping you're not spending the rest of your life parked in gridlock.
@44: ......and the oil companies keep getting richer, don't they? Sigh.
The rail proponents never really want to talk numbers. Real ones, anyway, such as how Seattle's current system is dramatically underperforming its modest startup goals. Or that highly developed systems, like Boston's, carry only 8% of daily trips.
Have you been to Boston, or Chicago, or New York, or London? Have you driven there? I have. All four of 'em, in fsct. The roads are crammed. Would they be even more crammed but for their systems? Yes, especially New York and London. But those networks, even in the biggest cities, don't keep "zillions of cars and trucks off the roads." They keep some off.
If Boston's rail network went kaput, I think you'd be shocked at how quickly the place would adapt by using buses and expanding boat service where possible. Yup, it'd be a gigsntic pain in the ass, but not armageddon except in the media.
New York would be a much bigger problem, and so would London, but Seattle isn't either one of those places and never will be. In 40 years, we'll maybe be more like Boston in terms of density. Maybe.
And I'd suggest, as someone who's been around quite a bit more than you seem to have been, that fixed rail is by no means the only way to skin the cat. Example: Electric cars + GPS will soon equal self-guided vehicles that can travel significantly faster on some routes, but with a lot less spacing.
If you do the math, that might wind up being much cheaper, much less polluting, and much more flexible than fixed rail, which among other things is geared toward a 50-year-old, East Coast, downtown-centric cityscape that doesn't exist in the West.
Finally, to head something off at the pass: Please don't yammer about Portland. You heard it here first: Their oh-so-cool MAX and Tri-Met system is in deep, deep financial doo-ddo. The powers that be down there have worked hard to keep anyone from finding out, but this is not something they'll be able to hide for very long. Portland is going to be in for a very big, very painful come-down. Just wait.
People need to think creatively. There's no virtue in spending money you don't have on a system that won't work, by which I mean get lots of people where they need to go, cost effectively. Yeah, trains are so cool, or so you think. I suggest listening a bit more carefully to what Freeman has to say.
p.s.: I live in Seattle. I'm looking at a city that's on a steepening downward trajectory, in large part because the civic dialog and government policies are rooted in fantasy. Those are fun for a while, but they rarely work out in the long run. Even Dan Savage knows that, but someone needs to tell Mike McGinn.
I'm not complaining here, I'm just saying. And you're right---what may work in one part of the state, United States or the world, might not do so well elsewhere. A lot of it has to do with infrastructure and the volume of people per square mile.
The only point I disagree on is concerning Freeman's views on managing traffic to and from his mall. Come on---he's rich out to get richer, and couldn't care less about the rest of us, with or without light rail and buses.
Freeman doesn't come off as racist any more than GW Bush did. He's a silver spoon. I'm sure he can relate to rich people of color.
I'd be willing to bet that the vast majority of his shoppers come from the East Side. Rail or no rail, they'll still drive to his mall on the roads there. Would tolling the bridges affect him? Maybe a little, but I dare say that someone who's willing to drive from Seattle to Bellevue to shop (why, I'm not sure) is not going to be stopped by a toll.
Indirectly, I suppose he'd like to avoid what he regards as economically destructive taxes and spending that would divert money from his pockets to government pockets. But I'm not even sure about that, because he's still in favor of spending money on transit -- just in a different form than your religion calls for.
In the end, the personal attacks launched against Freeman by Seattle liberals strike me as just as brain-dead as the wingnut attacks on Obama for being a Kenyan or a socialist. It's mindless, stupid trialism, something that infects liberals just as much as anyone else.
Yeah, now there's a credible source: "Rail-Volution." Washington Metro is nice, and quite expensive, and floats generously on federal money. But it doesn't even begin to carry even close to a significant portion of the region's daily traffic.
Jealousy and stereotyping?! How do you know what religious denomination I practice, if at all?? How much is Kemper Freeman and /or Tim Eyman paying you?
I DIDN'T say things weren't working out. I merely stated a fact that many can relate to: massive unemployment. Therefore, I'm working on employing myself.
Judging from your irrationally hysterical blast of vituperative diarrhea, it sounds like you're less likely to think before being captured by capitalist stoogery.
Ohhhhhh, a WISE guy, eh? Wellll, NYUH, NYUH, NYUH!!!!!!
This would explain your capitalist stooge mentality, Curly.
Or would you rather be called Moe?
Mister G had to go take a Santorum break.
G must stand for goof.
I think you need to go take a good dump to clear your head!
Your last comment is pretty amusing for someone whose elevator doesn't quite make it to the top floor.
If Freeman really supports busways, he's not demonstrating it by supporting No-man's initiative. Where will the money come from for the busways if there is no tolling allowed?
The governor -- who I'm sure you believe is a latte-liberal monster -- recently announced that one of the ways the state is considering as a way to close the next biennium's budget gap is to eliminate school transportation.
If the state is so broke it can't pay for schoolbuses it's probably not going to be building busways either. At least the Feds pay for some of the cost of rail lines.
For starters, you shut down Sound Transit. Then you put tolls on the various highways to support construction of busways on that highway. Nothing in I-1125 would prevent it.
Face it, you wah-wah-want light rail. Which, I might add, will be too expensive for the poor and working class. When it comes time to operate and maintain it, the money will come at the expense of the buses that poor people (read: minorities) ride.
That's the dirty little secret in every city with rail: Buses for colored people, rails for white people. That's Puget Sound's future with rail too. Ironic, huh? Yeah, yeah, you'll deny it. But really, take a look at how it really works elsewhere. You'll see.
If you toll a road, that money should go to that road, hence the term "toll road".
How many projects have been voted for, and the money collected, but the project not even started?
Wasn't Sound Transit, which I regret voting for now, supposed to be a regional transit system. and not just an over lapping layer squander? 250 freaking million dollars to rent rail lines that will never see a fraction of that investment returned?
Bellevue is already on the hook for 200 million dollars, that is $20,000 for every person living in the city. And it was just a down payment.
And you still haven't said how much Freeman and Eyesore are paying you to post your Santorum against light rail, Mister G.
I think you've been sitting in car fumes too long.
But KF will hate me dearly for the rest of the story - light rail isn't enough, and cars and highways are as obsolete as the dinosaurs they run on.... the fiscal and visionless wimps of the Seattle metro area should show some spine and build a real mass transit system - heavy rail people moving facilities like BART (SF), MARTA (Atlanta), Sydney Australia, NYC, etc etc. Sure everyone will hate the price tag today but will be on the bandwagon beating everyone else off tomorrow. KF is no visionary - he is a wacked out reactionary with no capacity to come up with a positive solution - only negations. As well, the Sound Transit and metropolitan Seattle planners are no better - they offer white bread, cake, processed crackers and the rest of the pablum diet of Compromise America. Get into Whole Grain politics and do the right thing now - its healthier financially, socially, and psychologically.