Seattle Press on Line - Letters to the Editor

Letters to the Editor

Apr 04, 2001 -- Allen Gets the Best Land Use Code Money Can Buy

To the Editor:

Re: Patricia Stambor's "Kissing the Sky in South Lake Union" [March 7 issue]: You wrote of city gerrymandering the building code for Paul Allen.

In the March 10, 2001 Economist there is an article about Russian land use. The parallels are remarkable! [The article conludes], "Mr. Putin's current plan seems to be to allow the governors to interpret the land code flexibly, region by region. That sounds bad for reform."

Thank you for pointing out the flexibility of our governors. Mr. Allen gets the best land use money can buy. Seaview Avenue gets used by the City Council as a poster boy for salmon habitat, by taking our right to build.

Bob Allison

Higher Density for a Livable Seattle

To the Editor:

Patricia Stambor's column criticizing the city council for allowing Paul Allen to build taller buildings in the South Lake Union area, is clear indication that cluelessness is alive and well in Seattle. Ms Stambor's rhetoric included zero facts about the long-term effects of lower density and shows bankrupt understanding of the causes and effects of bad growth management in urban centers.

Contrary to popular opinion, limiting the height of buildings does nothing to limit the amount of development in a community. If you partially dam a river, the volume of water in that river does not decrease but rather flows somewhere else. Similarly, limiting the height of buildings does not decrease growth. Rather, it creates more rural sprawl and destroys outlying areas that otherwise would remain green. The result is clogged freeways with frustrating stop-and-go traffic and no efficient transportation system as an alternative.

By limiting the height of buildings to six floors in areas such as the University District and West Seattle, developers are forced to build higher priced residences to justify the cost of the building. Consequently, the price of condominiums in this city is soaring well beyond the range of most. Furthermore, what would have been the top floors of any given building will end up as new business parks in areas such as Snohomish or Fall City. Shorter downtown buildings erode the effectiveness of projects like Sound Transit [which is] dependent on population counts and ridership, and destroy the urban tax base that funds the very programs Ms. Stambor advocates. Thus the theory that low inner-city density somehow aids the quality of life in a city is completely bogus.

In Vancouver, BC, height limits are more generous and setbacks more conservative than what is required in Seattle. The result is higher density at the core with rural areas closer to the center untouched. Despite the inability to design a working freeway system, Vancouverites nonetheless seem to understand how development should work, and the result is a city that functions far better than Seattle due to those very density figures that would-be growth limiters find so evil. Vancouver did not try to fight growth with silly and unrealistic development laws, but instead funneled growth to controlled areas near the center. Consequently, downtown Vancouver is alive, businesses survive, and rural life is superior than what we have here in Western Washington where it is now solid city from Gig Harbor to Everett.

I would encourage Ms. Stambor and others with her short-sighted opinion to visit BC before spewing more uneducated dribble, because your philosophy on growth has ruined this side of the state. Furthermore, please don't scold individuals for being smart enough to earn fortunes.

Phil Caldwell

"Arrogant, overpaid, underworked plutocrats"

To the Editor:

So...the arrogant, overpaid, underworked plutocrats of the "Lazy-B" are pulling out of town to a place with "better traffic conditions, better employees" (and people who will bow and scrape when they enter the room).

No doubt they will settle in Dallas/Fort Worth, where they can kiss "George II's" ring on a daily basis and play golf with "Prime Minister Heart-attack" without having to get on a crummy Boeing airplane to get there. The move will place them right in the midst of all the dollars coming forth from the big build-up of military might that is traditional with those afflicted with elephantiasis and "bigshotism."

The main reason they are jumping ship, one conjectures, is that far too many of those of us who have lived with an 800-pound gorilla in our midst for the past 70+ years know "where all the bodies are buried."

What "bodies," you may ask? Let's start with the knowledge that Boeing dumped tons of industrial waste directly into the Duwamish River from the back-side of Plant #2 on East Marginal Way for more years than Boeing cares to admit. Stuff like acetone, paint thinners, contaminated gasoline and other such toxic waste was dumped, by the ton, daily, which undoubtedly saturated the banks of the Duwamish, destroying any chance for useful occupation of the land. I know, because during my short occupation in the Plastics Department at this plant I was one of those dumping acetone into a funnel attached to a pipe, which sluiced the volatile liquid directly into the river below. No attempt to divert these liquids into holding tanks or some sort of treatment plant was ever a concern.

Plant #2 was originally intentionally located on land that was half in the city of Seattle and half in the county of King, allowing the firm to stealthily keep the two governments at loggerheads while imposing their will on them.

The claim of lousy traffic conditions in Seattle and vicinity is very accurate. The lousy traffic was, at first, mainly the fault of Boeing itself, who lifted not a finger to deal with its own traffic mess but left that chore up to the communities around them. They had the wherewithal and the need to extend the Monorail and other forms of transportation directly to their plants, but opted to do nothing instead.

Farewell, Boeing ... and good riddance!

Jeremy Bentham

Boeing Execs Should Not Make a Clean Getaway

To the Editor:

Before the Boeing top executives make their getaway to a finer place, we hope the authorities and local officials will demand a thorough investigation into the existence of the so-called illness of Boeing employees, called "Aluminum-lung," brought about by the constant breathing of tiny particles of aluminum and other toxic agents which float around in the air of Boeing's plants.

Workers who are there for many years, with no protection provided them by Boeing, suffer slow strangulation as their lungs gradually fill with this awful stuff.

It will be a lot easier to bring these "bonus-boys" to task while they are still here, contaminating their workers, than it will be when they move out of arms-length.

Gene Buck

Tent City Attracts Out-of-towners to Soft-touch Seattle

To the Editor:

All along I thought the "tent city" and other "temporary" housing actions were designed to care for the homeless of Seattle. How naive could I be???

Interviews of Tent City residents by The Seattle Press disclose some residents are newly arrived from faraway places and have planned to make this "home." Obviously these people have a home someplace else, but have come here to take up residence in "our" Tent City, because they know Seattle is such a soft touch. Tent City is just another neighborhood that floats around, similar to the "floating crap games" in the East. And all along, Tent City is not in compliance with city ordinances!

This is what we get for all that publicity about this being the "best place to live." Perpetuation of this fraudulent floating commune is a disgrace to our city. Enforce the law!

Jack R. Ellison

Don't Use Industrial Land for Housing

To the Editor:

Regarding your article, "Neighborhood Council Drops Block 40 Appeal," [March 21 issue]:

As a property owner in Fremont, I certainly do not need the "help" of the neighborhood council to change zoning in Fremont from industrial to housing, either jointly or completely.

There is an old saying, "without a job you have nothing." Industrial zones provide those jobs and need to be left alone. (No, I don't own any industrial land.) They also did not need to blackmail the developer into giving FNC $30,000 to drop their appeal. All that does is drive up the cost of building in the city and then we all wonder how come everything costs so much!

So FNC, do me a favor and don't help me! Unless of course you want to help make some bank payments!

Faye M. Garneau

Burkhart Mouths Sound Transit "Facts"

To the Editor:

Dick Burkhart, (Letters, March 21 issue) accepts as gospel whatever a rail agency tells him. My introduction to Burkhart was his November 9 letter to The Stranger protesting remarks attributed to me and to Rob McKenna, in an article published October 26, 2000. We suggested that the Link light rail project was seriously over budget. Burkhart protested, with his usual authority, that the cost overrun "was exactly 10.8 percent of the light-rail budget in constant dollars, all of Emory Bundy's smoke and mirrors notwithstanding (just check the latest Sound Transit budget)." That's the caliber of critical thinking here, and there's no learning curve. After Sound Transit admitted how much higher its costs actually were, Burkhart didn't admit I was right, he took me to task for "speculating." Until Sound Transit tells him what's true, he doesn't know.

I'm not kidding. Here's Dick Burkhart, January 25, 2001: "I count costs when they become known. I knew there would be more costs, but I didn't want to speculate like you do. It's quite possible that the present costs are overestimated, for example, but I'm not going to speculate."

Emory Bundy

No Excuse for Police Inaction at Mardi Gras

To the Editor:

As the mayor and police chief continue to hold fast in their denial of their inactions during the Mardi Gras melee, officers have broken ranks and done the honorable thing by taking responsibility for their actions that evening.

The presence of the police officers in uniform at Kris Kime's memorial service sent a palpable message through the crowd that there were people within the police force who were sincerely sorry for Kris' tragic beating. They rose above the rhetoric of denial and political posturing and showed honest and sincere remorse. The only remorse the mayor seems to be showing is for the death of his second term as mayor. As he slept the night away, he no doubt was secure and smug in the knowledge that the WTO tactics of the police would be just fine. Hopefully the family of Kris can take some comfort in the fact the whole community mourns with them. We all feel embarrassed for the police force that should have protected him as well as the thugs who perpetrated the crime. Police spokesperson Pam McCammon stated that if people didn't want to get beat up, they shouldn't have come to Pioneer Square. Her statement essentially stated that the partygoers at Mardi Gras should expect no police protection. Indeed they got none, as footage of the night shows savage beatings by unrestrained thugs.

The same false logic could be applied to other situations. Perhaps people shouldn't drive because we all know that road rage is just a traffic jam away. Our school systems routinely have violence too. I guess we shouldn't expect protection there either. That kind of rationalization is what is the most shortsighted.

Kris Kime in no way deserved to be beaten to death. The police chief can affirm his inactions all he wants. To have a police force refuse to help while a man is beaten to death is simply unacceptable.

Richard Borkowski

Cantwell Stole the Election

To the Editor:

I had thought it odd that she would win over Slade Gorton. Now I understand why. Maria Cantwell spent $4 million more than she had to spend. She spent it on distorting Slade's positions.

Cantwell had only a small number of supporters comparatively when considering Slade's 25,000 contributors. She had used much of her own money to take up the slack. I figure if she has her own money, fine, use it. However, it is dishonorable to use money one does not have.

Some of her own campaign staff and consultants were not paid. Some are now coerced into working phone banks to raise money in hopes of getting just some of the money owed them. Money unpaid is money stolen. She stole the election with dirty money. Bill, Al, and Maria; three good reasons for campaign finance reform.

Maria Cantwell has shown how she will act as a senator. Just as most liberals do, [she will] spend without concern whether the money is there or not. She cannot be trusted to represent the good of the country. She will do a great job at supporting any fringe group that promises a campaign pledge. Spend, spend, spend is just a look into the future. The dishonorable Cantwell will not vote well.

Roger W. Hancock

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