Bad economic times tend to be very good times for the POOR because they better express the essential class character of capitalism.

Makes just as much sense.

A little context on the Macy's sale would help your case. Is $600m a lot for a large building? Is it a little? Did some investors scoop it up at a bargain in the hopes that downtown will pick up once all the techies return to office, only to shove their losses off on someone else if the deal doesn't go well like some move from Trump U School of Real Estate?
"hey, look! A building sold! Thank you based god Sawant!"

When you spend $600M on a building you are looking at a long term investment and over the long run Seattle will be a good investment. That doesn't mean the current city government is doing a good job or that Seattle isn't in for a reckoning over the next 2-3 years. The city is not going to be flush with cash and it will require actual administrators and not activists to manage it effectively. But The Stranger will continue to gaslight us that everything is just peachy!

Also appreciate the concise legal analysis from Brett Hamill. Glad to know a bitter, hack "comic" knows much more than the ENTIRE state supreme court. lol

And why are kids returning to school anyway?
Charles - They are going to school because they need it. It is not healthy for 6 year olds to stare at a screen all day and expect them to learn something. Have you ever watched a kindergartener on a zoom call?

I don't have a problem with homeless people. I wish they weren't. I just don't want them living in city parks. Does that make me a bad person?

"Unchecked growth and gentrification is responsible for housing prices. National technological, demographic, and economic shifts combined with the Pharma driven opiate crisis are largely responsible for the boom in homelessness and property crime. Not god damned Kshama Sawant or liberal policies."

All true but the issue isn't who to blame, its who can manage it best and help solve these problems in a way that works for everyone. By any measure that is not Sawant. Someone who's stated goal is to burn down the system can not also work within the system. She ignores constituents who aren't part of the movement and brags how she doesn't represent them, she eviscerates her colleagues when she doesn't get her way like a petulant 2 year old and she doesn't think the rules of governance apply to her because she her actions are morally justified (and that is why the recall petition is moving forward, not because of some conspiracy). She is a great activist and organizer but that doesn't make her a good politician.

@10 Since I used reckoning let me respond. A collapse of the city is not imminent nor is it even a possibility however a 20% drop in revenue is not out of the question over the next 2-3 years combined with an increased demand from services as the city tries to reimagine policing, continues to deal with an unchecked addiction/homeless crisis and faces competition from Bellevue and other WA localities for business.

The current leadership in government, particularly on the council, has never had to face a contraction much less what will probably be a mini crisis. Yes, I think a decline of this magnitude and duration can be considered more than a market correction. I also acknowledge it is mostly caused by the Covid pandemic so I'm not pretending the city could have avoided this in any way. Yet the city is currently run by activists who don't know anything about actual administrations or making choices. They have had the luxury of being flush with revenue the last 10+ years and have never really had to prioritize or make hard choices.

Their first reflex no doubt will be to raise taxes because that is all they know how to do all the while casting blame at the "rich" and business community (I put rich in quotes because that definition seems to change by the moment and I have no doubt it will change further once the city is strapped for cash. If you think you aren't rich you may be in for a rude awakening). The choices they make over the next 1-2 years will decide whether the Seattle economy stagnates while other regions recovery at a much faster rate. In the long run Seattle will be fine. We have too much going for us for any politician to ever really f it up, what we have to wonder is how much pain are we going to have to endure before we can get through this and if the current policies and direction this city is taking will help or hurt the recovery. For my part I have little faith in the current make up of the city government to be part of the solution. The recovery will happen but it will be in spite of them not because of them.

"After the Suez Canal, the coast of Southern California."

Charles, port congestion on the West Coast (and East Coast, for that matter) has been an issue for months now: https://blog.containerport.com/2020-peak-season-update-port-congestion-equipment-imbalance-on-both-u.s.-coasts

"Pandemic capitalism has led not only to the ballooning of wealth at the very top but also a boom in the expensive automobile sector."

so it's True!
a rising Tide
& Pandemics!
lift All the yachts.

so Awfully GLAD the Rich
are doing so gol-dang Well.

to see them Not suffer so
Needlessly whilst 90,000,000*
(in the Middle of a Panfawkingdemic)
(in thee Richest Country in the History
of the Known Universe) of our Citizenry
are un- and underinsured. does that seem

normal to you?

*hell I can't even Count that high.
can you? so many questions. so little

no @1 it's
Nonsense
but well
Done!

@7 The issue isn't so much that you don't want them living in city parks, the issue is that you don't want them living anywhere near you at all.

@18 is correct.

Everyone wants the homeless somewhere else, away from them. The ultra wealthy refuse to pay any extra taxes in order to pay for what it would take to help move the homeless out of parks and away from non-homeless, so the current plan to solve homelessness is:

Complain about it
Go back to step 1

I can’t even with the double standards. Children need to be in school. Full stop. WHY IS THIS EVEN A QUESTION???

Seattle is dying is obviously ridiculous hyperbole but boy howdy do Seattilites have chips on their fucking shoulders about Bellevue. Who gives a shit what is going on over there? The autistic screeching about Bellevue is almost as bad as the autistic screeching about Sawant.

Bellevue is a delightful city.

@23:

"Seattle îs dying" = ridiculous hyperbole
"Bellevue is almost as bad as the autistic screeching about Sawant" = ridiculous hyperbole

At least you're consistent Brent