Comments

1

As the rights of property owners are diminished, development will be reduced. This move will only accelerate the growth of rental fees in Seattle. Ugh. Seattle is hopelessly broken with its current leadership.

2

@1 -- Well, no. It will prevent developers from buying buildings of buildings of great historical significance with the express intention of tearing them down.

3

@2 "Great historical significance" is a bit of a stretch for the Showbox. It's not the Taj Mahal.

4

@3, Here is a link to some history on the Showbox:

http://www.historylink.org/File/3684

It may not be the Taj Mahal, but it is arguably the most historically significant building in Seattle music history (that is still standing).

5

If I understand correctly, this legislation puts the Showbox in the historical district for a minimum of 10 months, but it could be extended for up to 2 years... Am I understanding this correctly?

6

Too bad they couldn't just build
around, and over the Showbox,
leaving the building as it is...

7

Let's tear down Pike Place Market and turn it into luxury condos. I mean, it's also not the literal Taj Mahal, so who cares right?

8

The only thing historical about the Showbox is the site itself. The land it stands on. The building has been redone over and over. You are NOT ACTUALLY STANDING where Count Basie stood, you silly hypsterz.

9

@7) Well, it's a thought that will have to be approved by the people that run place, namely the tenants. Do you actually have a point or does your tummy hurt?

10

Careful @7 -- for some, Irony is challengingly difficult to discern, these days.

13

@4 Thanks for the link, but I'm confused. As explained in the link you provided, the building has been partially demolished in the past, and has sat vacant for long periods of time. It's been at various times a furniture store, a bingo hall, and a comedy club. Where are the periods of "great historical significance?" The late 90's?

14

@7 Nice work, that is a textbook example of a strawman argument.

15

@8
This is my grandfather's ax. My father replaced the handle, and i replaced the haft.

See how that works?

16

It seems Mayor Durkan lacks the Council’s ability to see just how awesome the Council is. Quelle surprise.

Money quote: “A deal that allows the Onni Group to raze the Showbox and replace it with a development that includes a new music venue is not likely to satisfy the thousands of people trying to stop the night club’s destruction.”

In other words, yet another redevelopment of the site is magically off limits this time, because it will enrage the ghost of Count Basie or whatever.

After all, the only things Seattle would get from such a redevelopment are:

A building constructed to modern seismic codes;
Built by highly skilled, local labor;
Whose high wages would be paid by foreign capital;
Which, after completion, will house hundreds of persons;
Pay huge amounts of taxes;
And hold a much better performance space.

Yeah, good work, Council. Mayor Durkan must be an idiot to question your brilliance.

17

@13 I suppose that is one way of looking at it. I would argue that it is pretty remarkable that the building has survived so many threats of closure and/or demolition during it's 80 year life. That it was at times a furniture store, a bingo hall, and a comedy club in order to survive all add to the story. As far as historical significance, I'm not sure what more you could ask for. The link clearly provides the dates and names of several iconic artists that have graced the Showbox stage, from the 1940s to the present.

18

@16 I am seriously considering changing my user name to "The Enraged Ghost of Count Basie."

19

@17 "As far as historical significance, I'm not sure what more you could ask for."

I'd need to see something more along the lines of Washington Hall before I'd get worked up about a performance space being redeveloped.

20

@12 - it's not even mine....
But, yeah.
Sad.

21

@16 - “Quelle surprise”? What an interesting phrase! I seem to remember a certain more intellectually flexible commenter using that exact phrase recently.

So it can learn...or at least mimic. Now can it develop human emotion and higher reasoning, or did it reach its apogee (oooh, another vocabulary word for you to master!) when it figured out how to copy and paste links to the Poppe Report?


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