HOLY MISOGYNY

STRANGER: Thanks for this article ["Mars Attacked," Angela Valdez, Nov 30]. I live in Ballard and have always gotten a sick feeling in my stomach when passing that hideous god factory. After having read this, I'm even more saddened by the sight of so many women walking toward the church for services.

I commend Mr. Chapman for his work and wish him continued success in his efforts. We may never live in a world where there aren't men like Rev. Driscoll, or men too chicken to support a woman's right to be whoever she wants to be in life... but I sincerely hope that we'll always live in a world where people who realize that racism, sexism, and bigotry are WRONG can and will stand up and fight!

Amber Barbee

ENLIGHTENING AUSTIN

ERICA BARNETT: I just read your piece about development in Pike/Pine ["The Death of Pike/Pine," Nov 30]. I left Seattle in 2003 and now live in Austin, Texas, where the same pandemic of developeritis and condominiosis is sweeping through the city, destroying every "vibrant" neighborhood. THANK YOU for solving the puzzle of why these ugly new buildings have those shitty little un-balconies on them. That has been driving me nuts since I left Seattle. Also, thank you for writing such a well-researched, well-written, and thoughtful article on the subject. The Austin Chronicle does nothing but document whining, or so it seems, and never reveals anything interesting about this ongoing—well, in my view—problem. Your article has helped me make more sense out of what is going on here in Austin, which my local paper doesn't do. Bravo!

Leslie McGuinness

SAN FRANCISCO NORTH

ERICA: Excellently written. As a longtime resident on "the Hill," it really pisses me off that Seattle has become the whore she was in the late 1800s growing up. The city government has willingly become the pimp, allowing the region's developers to "pay" for the whore's services in the form of destroying the city I've known and loved for so long.

I lived in San Francisco during the '60s and have seen that beloved city of my past become what Seattle is rapidly becoming now—a city where only the very rich can afford to live.

Capitol Hill is going to become so gentrified and expensive to live in for the old-time residents that we'll all end up being forced to move to Kent or some other out-of-the-way place that only God him/herself can find or care about.

Don Bernstein

TORONTO ALSO AFFLICTED

ERICA: I live in Toronto, Canada, where much the same sort of thing is happening. Formerly interesting, gritty neighborhoods that spawned great art, music, low rents, and joie de vivre have been destroyed by expensive condo developments renting out solely to pricey retail chains and encouraging only mindless, mainstream clubbing and top-of-the-charts moviegoing as forms of entertainment.

I visited your city in 2000 and loved the Pike/Pine area—Belltown, too. I'm sorry to read your city is afflicted with the same shortsighted form of urban planning that ours is (although, frankly, I get the feeling that nobody is actually planning ours—it's just all going to the highest bidder).

Ais

SHRINK THE STOREFRONTS

ERICA: Great article on Pike/Pine. Old buildings are incredibly important to maintaining neighborhood vitality and diversity, but it's hard for me to imagine Seattle taking steps to preserve old buildings in Pike/Pine—and if they did, they'd probably screw it up. But one thing that struck me (and you mentioned this in the article) is that the new retail spaces aren't more expensive just because they're in new buildings, although that's a big part of it, but because they're too damn big. This became clear to me when I went to the early-design-guidance meeting for the new building on the Broadway QFC site. Nobody loves that QFC building, and I can't wait to see it torn down and replaced with 400 apartments, even if they're too expensive for the likes of me, and I have no problem with six stories straight up. Then the developer started talking about the retail spaces, called them small spaces, and said there might be as many as five different stores on that block.

Five? What the hell? I pointed out that kitty-corner, on the block with Bailey/Coy and Pagliacci, you have at least 11 separate retail units. (I underestimated; when I went back to count, it was 12 or 13.) New ideas need old buildings, yes, but if they can't have old buildings, they need small spaces. Really small.

Pike/Pine neighbors should ask for zoning, carefully applied on a block-by-block basis, that restricts the amount of street frontage that can be taken by any single concern. I can think of plenty of reasons why developers will complain that this is a violation of the Geneva Convention and so on, but it seems like the most realistic and least intrusive means for dealing with the real problem of a Seattle neighborhood being eaten alive by its own success. Or maybe not. But couldn't we try it on one or two blocks and see what happens?

Matthew Amster-Burton