The Trials and Tribulations of Change...

Seattle's Beautiful Skyline...

Change is the law of life.  And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.

- John F. Kennedy

Flying into Seattle for a long weekend seemed a little crazy.  The flight was a little too expensive, I would lose my high altitude edge, and every time I visit Seattle the focus is on food and libations - not exactly the best path to alpine conditioning.  But Seattle does provide me with something that is very hard to put a price tag on - old friends that I do not see nearly enough.

In 1995 I lived north of Seattle in Bellingham, WA.  I worked for the Lummi Tribal School as a special education teacher, and spent many weekends heading south to Seattle and north to Vancouver - two towns I have always loved.  When I moved back East a couple good friends moved west and settled in the Seattle area.  Although it is tough to have good friends move across the continent, there is also a hidden bonus - they now live in a place that I can always visit...

Seattle is now a boom town.  For better or worse.  If you were born here, and liked the way Seattle was twenty-years-ago, you are probably not that happy. If you are a developer or a restaurateur, the excitement and potential is overwhelming.  I am an outsider.  A tourist that comes to visit every five years or so.  And each time I visit I am pretty amazed at the changes I see.  Back in 1995 I thought the density of the traffic was pretty thick and the pace of traffic a little crazy.  Now, the congestion is horrendous and the driving seems like a free for all.  On Wednesday I was almost crushed by two cars that collided and spun out of control and careened into a stop sign I was standing next to.

Way too close...

Housing offers its own challenges as well.  Rents are expensive, and buying a home or condo is becoming out of reach for most Seattleites.  Homes that sold for $23,000 twenty-years-ago in Capital Hill can now fetch over a million.  Needless to say wages have gone up, but not at the blistering pace that the costs of living has.

The friends that I come to visit here in Seattle represent several different perspectives on the change that has happened here.  One friend, Eion, is an up and coming developer that is buying, beautifying, and selling homes here in Seattle for eight years.  He see's a real estate market that is exploding and is working as hard as he can to capitalize on the staggering growth.  

Change is hard work...

Another pair is a middle class couple that have been is Seattle for many years - Ryan grew up on Capital Hill and Amy arrived here in 1996.  They have seen a transformation that has been at times frustrating to watch and be submersed in.  Many of the land marks that they grew to love and rely upon have been swept aside, and the once accessible down town offers new challenges and expense.  

The third party consists of two, young, new comers.  Sid and Augustine.  They are 19 and 20 years of age, have been traveling the country, and are new to the Seattle area.  They are two gutsy, and adventurous, new comers to a city that is not an easy place to navigate with little financial resources.  They have worked their way west from Cambridge, MA to the Mission District of San Fransisco, up to Los Angles, where their car bonked, and then to Seattle by bus.

For Sid and Augustine Seattle is new and grand, and life is a daring adventure.  They have arrived with enthusiasm, a young love, and a new perspective.  They have no expectations, just a day by day journey that has led them to a new place to explore.   They are yet to mourn the loss of a place that once was, because they are just discovering what this new place is.

On their Seattle adventure...

Who are the "bad guys" in this scenario?  The developers?  The builders?  The realtors?  Out-of-staters?  The corporations that recruit over-achievers and pay them high salaries?  Air B & B?  It happens here in Seattle, where I am from in Portland, and in places like San Fransisco, et al.  More often then not the complaints I hear are directed at the people that are somehow involved in the process, not the system itself.  

To me the responsibility to influence policy falls squarely on each citizen, in every community.   I am part of this group and have not been active in the local politics for many years.   There are substantial obstacles that make it easy to abandon participation.  It is difficult to influence the inner politics of a city like Seattle, or Portland Maine, when there are deep pockets that push for development, have an inside track, and have the expertise and singular purpose that it’s citizenship lacks.  But after all is said and done the direction that local government takes depends on who is pushing the hardest.