Having worked at Amazon.com, we used to joke that we could get anyone to move to Seattle if they interviewed in August. The summers are pretty amazing in Seattle, but the weather sucks the other 9 months of the year.
You are correct, though ironically the weather today is pea-soup fog, at least in Bellevue ;)
July 5 is the first day of summer. Every year on the 4th you'd be biting your nails wondering if it was gonna stop raining so you could set off fireworks when it got dark at 10pm.
To be honest, the section of the city Amazon has "swallowed" was grass and weed filled parking lots 5 years ago as well as broken down buildings. While the construction has been a drag for drivers in that area, the city looks and feels so much better, IMO, due to their investments. Now, has Amazon invested enough in infrastructure to help the swelling population they are partly to blame for increasing (not to mention…
To be fair, the article was complaining about Amazon advancing towards the real downtown, not the Mercer St wasteland Amazon's development fixed.
OTOH they're talking about having space for 50k employees at SLU so I'm not sure why the author thinks Amazon is advancing downtonw...
Interesting that this article has a clear bias that Amazon is making Seattle better, starting from > Inevitably, the company's growing presence is making it a scapegoat for common urban woes such as traffic jams and rising rents > New, luxury, one-bedroom apartments packed with amenities that appeal to young urban tech workers fetch upwards of $4,000 a month, putting them out of reach of the Starbucks barista. This m…
The article is called "Amazon Has Swallowed Downtown Seattle" do you really think there's a bias towards Amazon here? Your evidence is basically that the passages detailing the downsides of Amazon's expansion include silver linings. I mean, the article could have been called "Amazon Turns Blighted Blocks Into Shining Urbanity."
> I mean, the article could have been called "Amazon Turns Blighted Blocks Into Shining Urbanity."
Fair point
Nothing says connecting with nature more than being surrounded by concrete and steel.
Ok, well if you are in a city you are most likely already surrounded by concrete and steel. The idea of these structures is to displace some of that concrete with a green area. What's a better solution for you?
Well you could design them like all the cities around the world whose primary design focus isn't vehicle traffic and tightly packed skyscrapers. You could design parks and walkways and bike lanes that are for people, and not businesses. You could design buildings with no exterior walls. You could design smaller buildings and space them farther from each other. You could encourage the development of small business outside mega-cities to grow community that doesn't require moving to an urban jungle. Or, you know, anything other than continuing to add concrete and steel and then patching it with artificial greenery to make it seem less oppressive. But i'm probably crazy.
Wasn't a biotech hub plan B originally? That never panned out. For reference I've worked in SLU for the better part of a decade, first at Rosetta Biosoftware (ISB is in that building now) and at AWS for the last 8 years.
There is quite a bit of biotech in the area, isn't there? UW Medicine and Novonordisk, as well as Fred Hutch etc.
There were plans for a lot more commercial biotech back in the day. Some of it has rebounded, but Seattle never really became a competitor to Cambridge (MA), San Diego, or the Bay Area. The non-profit side is pretty good.
70's in Seattle in January is a lie, misremembering, or massive fluke. Not normal. January is high of 40's. Source: 20 year Seattle resident who loves it anyway.
16 year resident here, and I'm trying to think of a week where it snowed and hit 70 within a seven day period. I'm not saying GP is lying, not at all, but perhaps might have selectively remembered their time in Seattle in January. Perhaps the sun peeked out and it just seemed like it was 70 in contrast. :-)
You know that it's colder when you see the sun in January :P
To be honest, the section of the city Amazon has "swallowed" was grass and weed filled parking lots 5 years ago as well as broken down buildings. While the construction has been a drag for drivers in that area, the city looks and feels so much better, IMO, due to their investments. Now, has Amazon invested enough in infrastructure to help the swelling population they are partly to blame for increasing (not to mention…
That's how I feel about Amazon, too. It cracks me up some of the things the author laments losing. No broken bottles? No cigarette trash? I like having at least one area of the city somewhat clean.
The only thing that neighborhood lost of any value was the Jones Soda bottling plant.
I've actually stopped shopping at Amazon. I'll pay and extra $10 for high ticket items to avoid that retailer. I'm sure many of the higher ups there don't have any ill-will, but they have unintentionally (or maybe intentionally; I dunno) become America's new Wal-Mart. That's a bad thing. Consumerist culture erodes long term sustainability. Laptop/cellphone replacement cycles need to be 10 years, not 2. Old electronic…
Have you considered that maybe the prices of some products are so low because of planned obsolescence? If you want quality, buy Miele. You have a life time guarantee. And you won't have to use it. People who can't afford the quality can buy Samsung. Or do you think people who don't have $10k for a fridge shouldn't have one?
I think Miele has planned obsolescence now too, at least on most of its washing machines. It also seems unlikely the prices are low because of planned obsolescence - there's only so much you can cut from something before it starts failing within the warranty period. Most of the cost savings seem to be from newer, more automated and efficient mass production techniques. Planned obsolescence is a separate and intentional design decision.