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

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

#101

Post by devindotcom »

e40 wrote: post #90
devindotcom wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think "terrible hypocrite" is a major overstatement. The guy is a gay artist who moved to an area built and populated largely by the gay and creative community, only to find it in the process of being colonized by moneyed interests and neighborhood tourists. He identified with the original neighborhood profile strongly and strongly rejects the new one, as I do — though unlike me, he's making his distaste known. I f…

Just because he's gay doesn't excuse his behavior. Just change the labels on your post and many would be horrified.

That's really, really not what I said.

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

#102

Post by gingerrr »

refurb wrote: post #86
napoleond wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not the argument being made.

Sounds like it to me. What difference does it make if you inherit your money or earn your money. Either way you're "rich".

I can't imagine you're this obtuse for real but I'll bite.

Pretty sure the backlash is against the "kids" part of rich kids - as the phrase "rich kids" insinuates second-gen wealth, a mass of money without having the responsibility or maturity to have earned it.

Very different story than for many of us self-made engineers, coming from the lower end of the economic bracket and taking advantage of scholarships and financial aid to get the skills that have now landed us well-paying jobs as adults, which we've worked 8-12-hour days to earn and keep.

We may be "rich" but we're not spoiled "rich kids", that make more sense?

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

#104

Post by c22 »

sushisource wrote: post #18
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…

These signs piss me off every time I see them. Always make me think "Oh, I know, it's so horrible that we're helping to bring fresh life into your local economy, with new amenities and attractions". Sure, high paying tech jobs certainly contribute to housing crunches, but they also help solve them by making high-density buildings with affordable housing in them possible. The street goes both ways.

So I've lived in Seattle my whole life. In the last 5 years the locally operated grocery store near my house was torn down and replaced with a Whole Foods while my favorite movie theater (the only theater I've ever known to provide a sound-proofed room for small children) has become a 21+ reserve-your-seats $80 movie night ordeal. I don't really have a problem with new people moving in and some of my best friends work at Amazon, but you can't really classify all these "new amenities and attractions" as a positive, most of them are just overpriced crap targeted to a demographic I don't belong to. It's not like Seattle was bereft of services and entertainment before you showed up.

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

#105

Post by smithkl42 »

mattress wrote: post #9

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.…

I can't speak to every demographic, but I've lived and worked on the Eastside as a software dev for 15 some years now, and I've never had that reaction from anyone. Far from it, probably a third or better of the households I go to church with, or who my kids go to school with, have at least one engineer in the household, sometimes more.

That said, Woodinville and Bellevue are not Capitol Hill, which has a very different vibe. I'm as uncomfortable in that neighborhood as they would be in mine, I expect.

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

#106

Post by JPKab »

bluedino wrote: post #99
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…

>> 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.

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

#107

Post by kpennell »

I don't know if I ever really saw Seattle's 'soul' when I lived there for 3 years. Granted, I lived in the North part. I saw a lot of white and asian people (mainly dudes) looking at their feet or looking at their phones. Seattle is one of the most difficult places to strike up a conversation with strangers or get people to actually want to hang out (worse if they are locals).

South Seattle, on the other hand, truly has 'soul'. Rainier Beach at one point was the most diverse zip code in the entire USA. You got to a coffee shop there and you'll see groups of east africans, latinos, all mixes of asian, white, african american, you name it. It's got gritty parts, nicer parts, and all sorts of interesting restaurants and grocery stores. The Amazon people don't tend to live or congregate down there as much.

As far as cap hill, fremont, wallingford, u-dist, you can keep it. A bunch of bland ass wealthy white/asian dudes looking at the ground.

I moved to SF and lived there for a couple years. The gentrification and rent is bad but the diversity and mix of people across most of the neighborhoods still beats north seattle hands down. It was a way more eclectic interesting experience than anything my Seattle time could offer.

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

#108

Post by wang_li »

devindotcom wrote: post #88
pazrul wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This guy is a terrible hypocrite; he creates art bemoaning new people in his neighborhood, while being a recent transplant from New York himself. He's cashing in on the worst kind of 'us vs them' mentality. Some people make excuses that he's only rallying against the stereotypical brogrammer, but I don't think that's true. He's really against anyone being in his neighborhood he didn't personally approve of. He's the…

I think "terrible hypocrite" is a major overstatement. The guy is a gay artist who moved to an area built and populated largely by the gay and creative community, only to find it in the process of being colonized by moneyed interests and neighborhood tourists. He identified with the original neighborhood profile strongly and strongly rejects the new one, as I do — though unlike me, he's making his distaste known. I f…

You mean a place once known as "Catholic Hill" was built and populated by gays and the creative community? Or do you mean that the current moment in time, which through the ongoing process of migration, renovation and economic activity just happens to have a particular demographic that this guy found appealing.

For every buyer, there is a seller and if he doesn't want the neighborhood to change, he should be speaking with the sellers rather than the buyers.

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

#109

Post by devindotcom »

forrestthewoods wrote: post #92
devindotcom wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think "terrible hypocrite" is a major overstatement. The guy is a gay artist who moved to an area built and populated largely by the gay and creative community, only to find it in the process of being colonized by moneyed interests and neighborhood tourists. He identified with the original neighborhood profile strongly and strongly rejects the new one, as I do — though unlike me, he's making his distaste known. I f…

The "original neighborhood profile" wasn't gay creatives. That didn't happen until the 70s/80s. It was blue collar mechanics and auto-shop workers before then.

Oh yes definitely. I don't mean a bunch of gay artists came and built it in the 30's or postwar period. But the reinvention of the place, in the 70s and 80s as you say, was what helped make it distinct culturally. That's now coming to an end and a new era is starting - but lots of people would rather it didn't, myself included. Not much we can do though.

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

#110

Post by devindotcom »

deegles wrote: post #84
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…

Did he do this one[1] as well? They're getting more and more aggressive lately. (Also I can't help but notice the irony that it was made in Microsoft Word.) It says "New to the city? Work in tech? You're a plague and locals FUCKING HATE YOU. LEAVE." [1] http://i.imgur.com/pIkA91B.jpg

No, that's just someone printing stuff up and taping it to poles. John does big one-off hand-painted things.
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