Insignia Towers
Insignia Towers Charles Mudede

Seattle Times provides the details in this post: "Seattle neglected to collect $3.4M payment for affordable housing as two skyscrapers were built." The negligence was revealed in an audit of the city’s Incentive Zoning program. The program, which has been around since the 1970s, gives developers what they want (permission to build big places for the rich) in exchange for what much of the public really wants (affordable places to live). Though the exchange is not all that (a residential developer, for example, only has to offer 2.1 percent of their total units to affordable housing or pay a small fee per square foot), the city is so disinterested in the current housing crisis, that it has not bothered to collect these fees for a number of recent projects, one of which is the Insignia Towers.

The money just sat there doing jack. And it might have continued doing that for lord knows how long had not City Councilmember Mike O’Brien called for an audit of the Incentive Zoning program. And he might not have called for this audit if a hotel-workers union, UNITE HERE Local 8, hadn't "raised an alarm about the city letting a developer make a smaller payment than it should have." The negligence shows the exact location of our city's priorities. Seattle is committed to and is building like crazy for the rich.

If Amazon Enters the Brick-and-Mortar Grocery Business, Its In-Store Technology Will Eliminate Lots and Lots of Grocery Jobs: Up to 75 percent of a grocery's workforce, according to one researcher. Amazon has been trying to find a way into the grocery market for a decade. It even considered buying Whole Foods for $10.7 billion last fall. That merger didn't work out, but the e-commercial zaibatsu still wants to buy a supermarket chain. And if it succeeds in finding one that's suitable for its schemes, it will automate much of that business' operations. And if that happens, expect other supermarkets to do the same to remain competitive. All of this would be fine if free time was cheap. But it's not. It's very dear. Indeed, it only takes a few months for free time to make a once-productive member of society homeless. Automation is nothing but a nightmare in a world that has no cheap free time.

Ken Griffey Jr. Statue Unveiled: It stands outside of Safeco Field and has as much art, poetry, and imagination in it as a pair of dentures.

What Is That Thing They Are Building Down There in Paul Allen Town? It's a place that will "house the largest electrical substation in the city." In the eyes of My Northwest News's Kipp Robertson, and those of many others who chanced upon the construction site while walking up or down Denny Way, it doesn't have the appearance of something as mundane as a substation but of yet another wacky Amazon project.

Hunger Strike at Tacoma Immigration Detention Center Grows: The huger strike began on April 10 with 415 detainees. But according to activists, the number of detainees participating in the protest has grown to 750. And what do they want? The stuff all poor people want: lower costs, better wages, better health care, and better food.

The US Kills 36 ISIS Terrorists in Afghanistan With a Bomb That Cost $16 Million: If the US had just given those terrorists all of that money, I think they would have left those dusty tunnels in the scorching middle of nowhere and bought homes in the suburbs and vacations on cruise ships.


Expect to See More Images of War in the Near Future:


Why? Because Trump's economy will not go anywhere. It's already in decline. And in a few months, it will be evident to all that his empty promises and policies are not creating jobs, creating new wealth, or even recreating the greatness of white America. All that will be left are the generals, the huge military budget, imaginary enemies and dangers, and the spectacle of destruction. This will become our daily bread.