11–20 of 312 posts
Seattle is not for young people. The dude pool is 2:1 in a market where beer is regularly 6.50 a pint.
But there's a dirty, edgy, interesting indoor culture there caused by the shitty weather. It sprouts up around everything from sex to music to art on occasion. Go find it.
Its hard not to feel angry at people like this. "Rich Kids" really? These "Kids" spent years developing their engineering skills to get to the point where they are now. Are engineers paid a lot? Of course. But we're certainly not in the same category as those who inherit wealth. Most engineers that I know come from incredibly humble backgrounds.
Seattle is not for young people. The dude pool is 2:1 in a market where beer is regularly 6.50 a pint.
Marrying young and endless dinner parties where first-time homeowners proudly declare "granite countertops!" like checking that box on a list of materials is some major achievement. A bit painful. But there's a dirty, edgy, interesting indoor culture there caused by the shitty weather. It sprouts up around everything from sex to music to art on occasion. Go find it.
Funnily enough, most of the time it's not made of granite at all.
Because he was sick of friends moving away, a friend of mine made his rookie run for the city council this past year. He didn't survive the primary, but he had some good ideas about housing that have in part been taken up by other candidates going forward.
The first was a mandatory inclusionary zoning policy, which would give developers building incentives, such as allowing additional height, in exchange for a fixed percentage of units being affordable. Affordability here was defined in terms of HUD's guidelines for percentage of income spent on housing (in this case assuming someone earning Seattle's decidedly not-livable minimum wage).
Some form of that first idea seems to have survived my friend's candidacy to live on in other proposals / candidate platforms. Another that I thought was clever, but hasn't seen much uptake, tried addressing the problem from the demand side. Here the idea is that Seattle would run its own voucher program to subsidize rents for low-income people. This one was a little more ambitious and would require new revenues, but is a nice alternative to supply side options.
And of course a purely supply side solution doesn't entirely solve the problem. New units tend to command higher rents in general. Also, a glut of condos might not reduce prices so much as encourage speculation from non-resident owners. Certainly more units need to built, but new construction doesn't entirely solve affordability in the near term.
It's fascinating and sad to read these articles, about some cities struggling with the effects of tech wealth while other cities would see it as an almost unqualified boon. We constantly hear about a desperate shortage of software engineers from tech companies, as well as talk of "six figure" salaries. But the median price for housing in SF is well over a million now, and if you're hoping to have kids and raise a fam…
Why isn't a nice condo in Mountain View for $700K good enough? 1,300 sq.ft is plenty of space to live. For instance http://www.mlslistings.com/property/ml81517677/1945-mount-ve...
Took a job in Bellevue in April and moved from Philadelphia to Seattle. So far it's a been an interesting experience. I've encountered many people hostile to software engineers in general. A bunch of people immediately ask if I work for Amazon with a hint of disdain after I state my occupation. So it hasn't felt super welcoming so far. I get it, even in some neighborhoods in Philadelphia the same thing is happening.…
> John Criscitello placed posters in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood proclaiming “Welcome! Rich Kids,” and “Wish you weren’t here.” Its hard not to feel angry at people like this. "Rich Kids" really? These "Kids" spent years developing their engineering skills to get to the point where they are now. Are engineers paid a lot? Of course. But we're certainly not in the same category as those who inherit wealth. Most…
Seattle is not for young people. The dude pool is 2:1 in a market where beer is regularly 6.50 a pint.
Marrying young and endless dinner parties where first-time homeowners proudly declare "granite countertops!" like checking that box on a list of materials is some major achievement. A bit painful. But there's a dirty, edgy, interesting indoor culture there caused by the shitty weather. It sprouts up around everything from sex to music to art on occasion. Go find it.