From the Nov 25 – Dec 1, 2004 issue

News

Counter Intel

Red Seattle, Blue Seattle

by Josh Feit

The city was poised this year to allow homeowners in single-family neighborhoods to build second, smaller detached units--typically known as mother-in-law apartments. Unfortunately, a Wallingford activist named Greg Hill didn't like the idea. After dominating a community meeting with horror stories about the creeping menace of density, Hill successfully bullied the mayor's office out of pursuing the policy. The proposal is collecting dust on the shelves in the Department of Planning and Development.

Sensing his NIMBY putsch power, Hill has now set his sights on a bigger policy item: Mayor Nickels' drive to amend the city's comprehensive plan. Last Saturday morning, Hill was the star of a community meeting at City Hall that neighborhood activists organized to oppose Nickels' plans. (Specifically, the mayor is pushing to decrease parking-space requirements, raise building height limits, and encourage high-density developments.) More than 50 folks crowded into the room as captive city council members Peter Steinbrueck and Richard Conlin listened to the audience denounce Nickels' "massive attack on single-family zoning."

This crowd--including speakers who argued that pedestrian-oriented communities (i.e., places where you can walk to a grocery store) aren't any healthier than auto-centric communities (a lie), and that there's no link between fighting suburban sprawl and increasing inner-city development (ditto)--represents Red Seattle. I call them red for two obvious reasons: Like the Bushies, they don't recognize reality (note the two lies above), and they use lies to obstruct progressive policy.

Hill, for example, who narrated an anti-development slide show, defiantly announced that even if the city builds rapid transit, "Everyone in Seattle owns cars and always will." Speak for yourself. Sixteen percent of Seattleites reported zero cars in their households according to the 2000 census and nearly 40 percent of people working in Seattle either walk, bike, take the bus, or share rides to work.

Luckily, Blue Seattle also met last week. About 200 public-transit geeks gathered in Montlake at the Museum of History and Industry last Friday for the annual Transportation Choices Coalition fundraiser. The grassroots group, which advocates for public-transit projects like the monorail and for development along transit lines, spent the night dissing the "auto orthodoxy" and cheering ideas like banks giving mortgage breaks to people who buy homes along transit lines.

The two meetings made it clear to me that Seattle is on a collision course: Red Seattle which thinks it lives in the suburbs vs. Blue Seattle urbanists who embrace taller buildings, denser communities, and public transit.

So far Hill has been able to block a small step in the right direction by scaring the mayor, who is up for reelection next year, out of pursuing a smart mother-in-law unit policy. However, Nickels should stand firm about updating the comprehensive plan. If you're worried about the election, Greg, just remember that Blue Seattle has your back. The monorail just won by a huge 80,000-vote margin. You will too in 2005 if you stand up to Red Seattle.