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Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

nytimes.com

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Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#171

Post by ForHackernews »

amyjess wrote: post #115
pm90 wrote: post #12

> 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…

I wish I was a rich kid. I only got to go to college on a scholarship, and I spent the first five years of my career making under $50k. I'm disappointed that some people think working in tech means that you're made of money.

> I spent the first five years of my career making under $50k.

Many people spend their entire lives making less than $50k. Try and have a little bit of empathy.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#172

Post by hosh »

pera wrote: post #71
wfo wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seattle has never been particularly welcoming to newcomers; people there tend to be insular and it can be hard to make friends if you don't already know people (even before the amazon/tech stuff -- plenty of articles about 'the seattle freeze' that predate it). Being from there helps. Not being in tech helps -- there are so many new software engineers meeting one just isn't very interesting. You can hardly blame peop…

I keep reading all these scary stories about how unwelcoming people from Seattle is; I moved here back in February and my experience until now have been completely the opposite: almost every Seattleite I meet is super friendly and talkative, at the point that it feels almost like being in a small town. Maybe I am just lucky? but I think Seattle is one of the coolest cities in the US, except of course for the traffic.

I dunno, Pera. That's been my experience of Seattle too.

I mean, sure, I remembered the street protests that lead to the minimum wage laws; and people getting angry about one thing or another. But by and large, I don't get the cold shoulder or hostile looks.

Maybe it is because people in Seattle are sensitive to being judged, and are aggressive about political correctness? I'm OK with that.

Seattle is a beautiful city. I'm glad I had the chance to live there :-)

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#173

Post by oldmanjay »

ForHackernews wrote: post #156
pm90 wrote: post #12

> 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…

You may not have inherited great wealth directly, but it's a fair guess that you "inherited" some or all of the following: * Parents who pushed you to focus on your schoolwork. * Parents who owned a computer, or bought a computer specifically for their kids' education. * Parents who lived in a house with consistent water, electricity and internet service. * Parents who made sure you got glasses if you needed them, so…

Sure, ascribe everything to luck, and then so what? Where does that leave us? With less of an appetite for technology and progress? With more of a use for people who have no salable skills and hungry mouths and envy for the good life? Or does it just leave us with a bunch of people who contribute nothing more to society than constantly exclaiming that things aren't fair? We know they aren't fair. They've never been fair, they'll probably never be fair. Spinning tires over that basic fact of our universe is so pointless I'm almost offended people waste so many bits about it.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#174

Post by hosh »

city41 wrote: post #139
pera wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep reading all these scary stories about how unwelcoming people from Seattle is; I moved here back in February and my experience until now have been completely the opposite: almost every Seattleite I meet is super friendly and talkative, at the point that it feels almost like being in a small town. Maybe I am just lucky? but I think Seattle is one of the coolest cities in the US, except of course for the traffic.

Having a giant lake dividing Seattle from the rest of the area has a really negative impact on traffic. I lived in Seattle for 4 years and I generally found people cold and distant, my wife did too.

That might be part of it too. I worked from home. I lived in Capitol Hill, parked my car in the garage, and I think I drove it maybe once the entire year I lived there. I walked everywhere. Folks were pretty friendly.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#175

Post by bethling »

ForHackernews wrote: post #156
pm90 wrote: post #12

> 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…

You may not have inherited great wealth directly, but it's a fair guess that you "inherited" some or all of the following: * Parents who pushed you to focus on your schoolwork. * Parents who owned a computer, or bought a computer specifically for their kids' education. * Parents who lived in a house with consistent water, electricity and internet service. * Parents who made sure you got glasses if you needed them, so…

Until I met my wife, I hadn't realized exactly the fortune I had with my family. My parents were teachers and really understood the value of education. We came from a modest background, but it was stable and they did push me to focus on school. I went to a really good school (yay need based financial aid), have a great job that pays me well.

On the other hand, we have my wife. She is smarter than me, but went 7 different schools as her family moved from place to place before she finally dropped out, worked retail as she essentially raised one of her sisters as she scraped by. In a more stable environment, she'd have almost certainly ended up in law or business school.

She now really tries to provide some sort of stability, and encourage focusing on schoolwork with her nieces and nephews, who are in danger of repeating the history of poverty.

Seeing that makes me realize how very lucky I was to be born into the family I was, and everything I took for granted really isn't just what "normal" is.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#176

Post by hosh »

JPKab wrote: post #106
bluedino wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> Also everyone hates amazon. Odd, compared to Bentonville where everyone loves Wal-mart.

To be fair, Amazon doesn't directly or indirectly employ half the population of Seattle like Walmart does in northwest Arkansas. Plus, it's apples and oranges. Seattle attracts counter-culture folks, and has for a long time. They tend to be assholes in general in my opinion.

That's an interesting use of the word "asshole".

There is this philosopher who picked apart the word "asshole" to try gain insight into what it means. I liked his definition of it -- someone acting out of entitled superiority.

There are lots of folks who are like that. I don't generally distinguish people along the lines of "mainstream" and "counter-culture" in my head. It's more of whether someone is superficial, or someone is impeccable or has integrity. So sure, I've met asshole counter-culture "types". I've also met some very interesting people too.

Have you read that article about the philosophy of jerks?

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#177

Post by pkinsky »

devindotcom wrote: post #155
vectorpush wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quintessential hipster bullshit. His community doesn't have any special rights to dictate the culture of the region and if he doesn't like the newcomers he can leave. It's also absurd to presume that just because someone has a high paying job they cannot qualify as a legitimate part of the community. Your petty and insular mindset is gross.

We might have to fuck off because the rent is too high, but it doesn't mean we have to do it quietly. The people coming in should know how much they are resented by the people they are displacing. The mechanics terraformed capitol hill, the current community colonized it, and now the next wave is buying it. No one here is dictating culture - they are asserting their preference to a community that was built over decad…

Absolutely! It's disgusting how those people are flooding our neighborhoods and changing our culture. Donald Trump 2016!

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#178

Post by hosh »

aaronbrethorst wrote: post #150
rconti wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was there ever a reason to travel around South Lake Union at the end of a work day before? Other than to exit 99 for the Mercer Street industrial wasteland pothole-dodge on the way to I-5, of course.

Queen Anne Capitol Hill Glazer's Camera Downtown to Eastlake yeah.

When I lived in Seattle, I walk and sometimes take the bus. Queen Anne's is just a bit further than I am willing to walk. I miss the walking; where I'm living now, things are far apart enough that it's more practical to ride a bike if I didn't want to drive.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#179

Post by ForHackernews »

oldmanjay wrote: post #173
ForHackernews wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may not have inherited great wealth directly, but it's a fair guess that you "inherited" some or all of the following: * Parents who pushed you to focus on your schoolwork. * Parents who owned a computer, or bought a computer specifically for their kids' education. * Parents who lived in a house with consistent water, electricity and internet service. * Parents who made sure you got glasses if you needed them, so…

Sure, ascribe everything to luck, and then so what? Where does that leave us? With less of an appetite for technology and progress? With more of a use for people who have no salable skills and hungry mouths and envy for the good life? Or does it just leave us with a bunch of people who contribute nothing more to society than constantly exclaiming that things aren't fair? We know they aren't fair. They've never been f…

> Where does that leave us?

With a sense of compassion and a diminished sense of smug self-satisfaction, I might hope.

Re: Seattle, in Midst of Tech Boom, Tries to Keep Its Soul

#180

Post by thieving_magpie »

devindotcom wrote: post #159
thieving_magpie wrote: post #143

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well I'm new to the city and I'd feel like it would be plainly disingenuous of me to pretend I know what's going on. I'm here to support my family, learn, and experience this incredible area. I'm aware of the arguments in the culture battle and I am, of course, against gentrification and the loss of cultural identity. I will vote accordingly to try and fight that. However, I have a similar attitude as you (and the 'w…

Yes indeed, and sorry if my comment sounded confrontational. I only meant that the "doesn't need approval" is an integral part of the Seattle mindset.

I didn't take it as a confrontation. I know exactly what you mean and I admire that quality.
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