Wa couldve had a income tax, but the real "Washingtons" voted against it.

Wa could've had a way to increase taxes but those real "Washingtons" voted for the 2/3 rule.

Wa could've funded education and even though the real "Washingtons" did vote to do so, they kept voting for politicians who refused to do so and for other initiatives that made it impossible.

Did the past 40 years of laws and regulations (or lack of them) that "real" seattlites voted for cause this mess - hell yes!

Is the rapid expansion by tech making the mess worse - hell yes.

But are we better of blaming each other or our we better of realizing we all have a hand in this mess and try to come together as a community to fix it?

SLU is a good point of reference, where Amazon now owns and leases something like 3 million square feet of office, and counting. If you're not working there, it's a fucking nightmare. Property values raced past 170%, and that took 2 years. It is not a mistake in saying that the city is allocating more resources and green lights for your industry, which is fueling the displacement of people outside that line.

What's absolutely surprising to me, is how NONE of the prizefighter tech companies make an investment on cultural oversight, or work on ways to smoothly integrate with the neighborhood and invest back into it, so that things like this displacement and squabblefest don't have to happen. Many companies are adopting that into business practice. The other element at play, are the folks jumping in to cash in on new money. You'd be surprised to know how many developers of these neo Victory Mansions are from waaaaaay out of state. It's fueling resentments when we observe what happened in SLU, KEEP happening, to a point where it's like a radioactive fallout to the surrounding areas. It's hitting places like Beacon Hill now.

I won't be surprised, if what we see when an eventual bust cycle in tech growth comes, will be very similar to: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-…

While I'm not wanting every tech worker to play apologist, it's hard not to draw the correlation of tech boom, with the rise of violence on the hill, with spikes of 3,000 dollar studio apts in the last 3 years, with housing discrimination, with currently four times as many business owners trying to sell or serve alcohol in Seattle.

You might not be part of the problem, but something surrre STINKS.

I had to move here from Dallas because I was offered my dream job of trying to find a vaccine for HIV. I'm paid the minimum I can be paid because I told my employer, during my interviews, that the job was more important than the pay (because it is). I had to move to Seattle, sight unseen, in less than a month to take the job -- and I did. Frankly, The only thing that kept me from being completely ignorant of everything Seattle was discovering The Stranger's online presence shortly before leaving Dallas. Anyway, I want to say that maybe my ignorance was and is an asset. I got here, I walked up to strangers and said 'Hi. How are you?' and I got my bicycle tuned up ( so as to avoid bringing one more Yaris into downtown during the weekdays ) and I found housing in the city by making friends and those friends knew I needed a place and dropped a good one in my lap.

People mention the Amazon complex downtown to me and I've probably cycled past it but I wouldn't know it from sight. I've been told by some people here (and I don't know who has Seattle on their birth certificate and who doesn't) that the reason I've had an overall positive experience as a transplant is the nature of my work -- because I didn't come here to earn money and live an expensive lifestyle.

can I be honest? Since I don't earn a lot, I do as much free as I possibly can. There's a lot of free stuff to do here. Just riding your bike along all these paths is a Kickass Saturday.

So, I think I'm gonna stay ignorant. I'm happy in Seattle. People are nice, if not a little bemused by my custom of asking everyone how they're doing and engaging them in conversation.

I'm sorry rents are forcing people to places north and south of the city and I'm sorry there's construction and traffic -- but, I've found, you can live here on little money in your own place. For me, it's been a matter of just talking to people to find out where the good stuff is.

One thought for the OP: not even really understanding this antagonistic dynamic that seems to weave it's way through a lot of the previous comments, I could see, upon reading it, how inflammatory your statement was gonna be. I get it. We all have bad days and wanna rant, particularly when you feel you're apart of a group who's the object of mass ire. I'm Mexican. I get it. But, telling anyone they should be grateful for anything is almost never gonna go over well.

SeattleCattle, Enatai, KeepSeattleHostile,

You are each presumptuous, groupthink whiners that are much more entitled than any "tech bro" I've ever come across. "My city!" "Real Seattlites!" sounds more than a little bit like "real patriot!" and "I want my country back!" that tea bagger types have spewed for years. So much easier to blame others for your position in Seattle's ever-changing economy. You were not guaranteed cheap housing in a booming metro area because you were born in Seattle or you moved here in the 90s. KeepSeattleHostile's post was especially hilarious - a waitress that believes she deserves affordable housing on the Hill. It is HER city, afterall!

Ever notice how often Darwinists suddenly stop believing in survival of the fittest when it applies to them?

"But why blame me personally for taking a job with high-pay? What the fuck was I supposed to do, say "nah, I don't want to displace the locals in Seattle, so I think I'll pass"?!?! Being a programmer was what I wanted to do and I would've done it even if the pay was modest. So why have the childlike belief that we did this because we don't care who we displace? I have no fucking control over that."

This has been asked a few times now but no one seems interested in answering it. I find that interesting.

#80 and 81. l love you both.

To be fair, l'm not angry at the employees. l'm angry about the companies, and moreso the rental agencies and landlords that dismiss those of us that aren't making 70+k/year. The employees are just doing their jobs. lt's not their fault. But the city fails in a big way when it comes to rent control, and so does its property owners. However, posting a self-righteous 'l HELP YOUR CITY SO LOVE ME' rant doesn't do shit for this particular little battle. Whoever wrote this quoted all sorts of places that he thought was local. And they are. Does he go to Shorty's? No. Not likely...flat out, you don't know this town by quoting places you don't belong, and where the clientele would look at you funny. Even if you were in street clothes. No. Nice try, but no. And you certainly won't make friends with this crappy little rant of yours. Go ahead. Try and say that to a local. lt'll be amusing.

"You didn't put forth the effort to finish college, yet you expect to get paid enough to live comfortably in an expensive area, despite lacking the training that would be valuable to businesses. "
You know, l was listening to your arguments until this. FUCK. YOU. l don't even know what to say. Your ignorance, and your silver fucking spoon speak for you. You feel invalidated? Dismissed? Well, that quote of yours makes it so NOBODY will listen to your otherwise valid pleas.. You just proved yourself an asshole, dude. Good luck.