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A Visual Walk Through Amazon's Impact On One Seattle Neighborhood

Posted by Soulskill on from the aside-from-the-all-the-packages-sitting-at-people's-doors dept.

reifman writes: If you live in Seattle, it's easy to see Amazon.com's impact on downtown construction and growth but not everyone sees what's happening in neighborhoods like formerly sleepy Ballard. One by one, traditional Seattle homes are being razed and replaced by 3 1/2 story behemoths without regard for aesthetics of any kind. The new townhomes offer 12 foot wide living spaces for Amazon's brogrammer class. Take a walk with me down my friend's street to see what it's like to live amongst the returns of e-commerce success. Ballard is also home of the late octogenarian Edith Macefield, who refused to sell her house to developers as construction went up around her.

3 of 296 comments (clear)

  1. Microsoft was better? by Spy+Handler · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't recall people of Seattle complaining about how Bill Gates ravaged their city in the 90's...

  2. Re:Great - suburbs are becoming urbanized by MrRobahtsu · · Score: 5, Funny

    How dare you suggest that housing people want and need to buy and economic growth are more important than Jeff Reifman's delicate architectural sensibilities. You insensitive clod.

    Yeah, call the wahmbulance.

  3. A fictionalized conversation. by SnapShot · · Score: 5, Funny

    The following is a dramatic representation of a conversation in Seattle.

    Scene: an artesian coffee shop, a late-forties white person is talking to another late-forties white person
    Person 1: When I cashed in my Microsoft shares in 1998 and I bought a house here it was a quiet residential street.
    Person 2: Yeah, I thought it would always be a quiet residential street, but then THOSE people moved in and I can't find parking.
    Person 1: This is the single worst thing that has happened in the history of human existence. You know the first thing the Nazis did when they invaded Poland... took all the parking.
    Person 2: I know, right? I have $500k in equity in my house but I can't find parking. If I sold my house to cash in my equity I'd probably have to move to Lynnwood or Rainier Valley.
    Person 1: I heard there's a new locally grown, gluten free, Vietnamese Banh Mi restaurant in Rainier Valley now.
    Person 2: Really? I heard they have quiet residential streets and plenty of parking. Maybe I should move there.
    Person 1: Good idea. I can cash in some of my Microsoft shares and start a new shade grown coffee shop. Get off the rat race, you know?
    Person 2: Yay! The people of Rainier Valley will really appreciate it. Let's go talk to our brokers.

    --
    Waltz, nymph, for quick jigs vex Bud.