Comments

1
1. focus on drivers who block INTERSECTIONS and crossing traffic which causes gridlock.
2. fix the timing of the fucking lights.
3. worry about the pedestrians who can go around the blocking vehicles.
4. crack down on defiant, "what-you-gonna-do-run-me-over?" jaywalking.

a traffic cop doing something but prioritizing garage-exiters would be effective as well.
2
I think you might have the cause and effect confused in your first headline.
3
There's a typo in one of your subheads. I think you meant to write: "Record-Breaking Rents Lead to Office Building Boom."
4

If you think today is your Lucky Day, then start it off with some classic Watershed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEL1NPLd…

5
"Historic preservationists fear that some owners may abandon or demolish structures rather than upgrade them."

So we'll wait for an earthquake to demolish them, instead? Seems like either way the building isn't going to be "preserved."
6
@1: I think banning vehicles longer than 20' (except buses) during rush hour would help, too.
7
@5 or they could be retro fitted.
8
Glad other people pointed out that you have it backwards with the office/rent headline. Here in San Francisco, people also suffer from this bizarre delusion that making more of things (e.g. apartments) is what makes them more expensive.
9
@6: Banning single occupant private vehicles would work better
10
Ride the Ducks should be allowed to use any roads they want! They are the greatest tourist attraction in the city and visitors should be given the red carpet treatment. People who dislike the Ducks should take a long hard look at themselves.
11
The Ducks are the least of the problems in the "bus only" lane on Hwy 99. There is a steady stream of cars using it between the Aurora Bridge and Seattle Center. Attention, City Hall: Seattle PD is missing out on a $ource of revenue.
12
It would be useful to know if the Ride the Ducks vehicles in the HOV lane during rush hour are filled with tourists. I'd imagine those vehicles are occupied only by the driver returning to base, which should be no different from all the other single-occupant vehicles on the road for business purposes.
13
It will be interesting with regard to the old brick buildings, especially the ones on Capitol Hill, People love them for their old world funky charm. If you think rents are too high now think about this: city building codes or insurance rules may require the owner to retrofit. This will be very costly so rents will go higher and faster than on modern building. Many, especially the smaller apartment buildings may have no choice but to tear down and rebuild from scratch.
14
@8 The "new construction causes rent to go up" headline could be possible if a neighborhood contains predominantly older shabby low-quality (i.e. low-rent) buildings, then developers come in and build a lot of new high-end buildings; the median rent statistic goes up in the neighborhood even if the price on existing buildings might stay the same and tenants aren't getting displaced. And new construction can put upward pressure on nearby rents by sending a signaling to the market that a previously disinvested area is now "hot" and desirable. But I read the linked news article and that is not what is happening in Seattle, where the price of existing office space is skyrocketing because demand is skyrocketing — then developers smell a profit opportunity so they start building.
15
1. Could we add "Denny & Stewart" to the blocked intersections list? Cars turning left from Denny to Stewart block buses and more every day during rush hours.

2. RE: Watts. There is some pretty good & compassionate analysis of the Watts riots that was done in 1967:
A riot is a very special kind of social interaction that simply doesn't take place unless conditions have been made so exquisitely unbearable that violence is, quite simply, the most efficient way to improve things
And here is an analysis of the 2011 UK riots, with similar intelligence.
16
Looks like SPD did have more important things to do than MJ arrests. Like tickets for cars in pedestrian crossings and blocking the box, saw two of those this morning at N 34th & Fremont Ave N, no SPD tickets while the intersection was blocked for 10 minutes.

Oh and just bought a new Swedish washer/dryer combo to help save water.
17
@#3 Yuuuuuuup "Record-Breaking Rents Leads to Office-Building Boom"

Stranger, you might want to learn the difference between causation and correlation. An office building boom is correlated to rent rising. A booming local economy is causing a rent boom as well as an office building boom.
18
@9 is correct. Ducks and long metro busses move more people per sq ft of road than single occupancy vehicles (except bikes and mopeds move more than either)
19
Our economy is "booming" only in particular ways.
20
@18, I'm more surprised they didn't include a few jabs at how the ducks straddle multiple lanes as they go around aurora, another illegal maneuver they probably do to emulate the buses.
21
@18 - If that is what you and Merchant Seaman want, then logic dictates that you would need a Marxist society to implement it. Please correct me if I'm wrong.
22
@21: We ban bicycles on the freeway, is that Marxist? We have weight limits on all roads, is that Marxist? Restricting certain roads to those who have a demonstrated need to use them would make roads safer and more efficient is hardly Marxist.

You keep using the word Marxist, it doesn't mean what you think it means.
23
@11 If SPD set up just north of comstock during peak hours they would make a fortune.

@12 these are "BAT" lanes, only metro, sound transit and vanpool allowed (and immediate right turns). No microsoft shuttles, no school buses and definitely no ducks!

@20 to be fair, those lanes are minimum width and it's a big drop off the edge. It is annoying though, another reason we should ban ducks entirely!
24
Can we get a correction on the subhead? People are confused enough about construction demand and supply in this city.

This just in: umbrella use causes rain.
25
@1: Not sure what distinction you're trying to make with your first point: That's exactly what the city is trying to do, if you read the story.
26
Ride the Ducks are an embarrassing and annoying blight on the city, and all of them should be sunk in the middle of Lake Washington.
27
@23 What in the hell is wrong with letting a private shuttle in a high occupancy lane if they're carrying a bunch of people? It's still mass transit even if it's just a company perk - you're still getting cars off the roads and reducing carbon emissions.

I know everyone likes to take a shit on anyone who makes money in this town, but why in the hell would you get in the way of private programs that help all of us?
28
@27 Agreed.

The answer to downtown congestion is congestion charges.
29
@23, the DUKW is 8.25' wide (wikipedia). The mirrors probably add a ft to each side.

In many places, they probably could be banned from the roads based on the lack of a proper bumper.
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/WAC/default.aspx?…
30
#3, #17

In a rational world where the Free Market operates, you might be correct.

If the price was set by a demand for usage, then of course it would fall.

However, that is now how the modern urban economy works.

Today's pricey cities are banks. Real estate is an ETF. People use high valued urban property to store money, and increase the value of that money.

I find that even in the sururbs, many bank owned properties are empty, sit on the market for years, and yet prices do not decrease. While "vacancy" rates may be high, I bet doing the rounds to many of these office spaces will find them devoid of people, or with a skeleton staff, many working from home or rented by companies with few to no bodies.

So adding buildings today is more like issuing new bonds. It is not rational, if you think a building, a home, or a city is a place for an ordinary person to live, work and play.
31
What 3, 8, 14, 17, and 24 said. Note to Stranger headline writers: just because The Seattle Times chooses to frame stories in non-sensical, illogical, ways that pander to bizarre NIMBY theories about economics doesn't mean you should replicate the stupidity when you comment on the story.
32
@22 - Now your blanket statement is more refined to only those with "demonstrated need". You're just talking about a few blocks in a big city, not doing away with single occupancy driving altogether.

Inherently a free society should allow a single individual to go from point A to point B by whatever means they choose whenever they choose.
33
@32 sounds good. next time I'm in the neighborhood, I'm going to bring my sledgehammer and chainsaw and march through your house because it's in my way.

Because freedom, yo.
34
@33

I can be matches.
35
@33: It's fun to extrapolate an observation into preposterous possibilities for a zinging retort, is it not?
36
@32: nobody in any society is allowed to "go from point A to Point B, by any means they choose"
37
@36 - You're right - "any" is such a delightfully malleable word that trolls can juice if the subject at hand is not fully qualified by conventional wisdom. I cannot ride a horse down I-5. I get it. By 'any', I meant the usual modes of lawful transportation individuals can use.

But yes, it's good to be precise from the beginning.
38
@2/3/8 et al. Not only is the headline nonsensical, if you actually read the story linked to, there is not a single mention of new construction, let alone a boom. So, misrepresent the link, then display complete ignorance for how markets work. Is the Stranger turning Republican?
39
@30: No one is adding buildings. That's kind of the point. If developers were adding buildings, net absorption would decrease, not increase. Pay attention.
40
#39

One minute you tell me there's a Building Boom in Seattle.

The next minute you tell me there's not.

If I pay attention I get a headache all the flip flopping of "reported facts".

Please wait...

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