OMG GENTRIFICATION DID WHAT?

Fast Company has a post indicating that (surprise!) gentrification can sometimes mean displacement.

What goes unexplored in the blamestorm that ranges from hipsters in bike lanes to filthy rich property owners "inflating" rent (no single actor can cause inflation, no matter how greedy they might be) is the theory of supply and demand.

What? Here's a refresher if, like me, you somehow got out of taking Econ 101 on your first pass through the American higher education system:

• Rising cost (of living, in this case) is a reflection of a market out of equilibrium. 
• If the supply of housing is constrained, it will remain so, with no lower bidders forcing suppliers to come down to the price at which similar products are being demanded. 
• If it is sufficiently fluid (meaning barriers to new suppliers coming into market are low), new supply should enter the market and re-balance things. 

And yes, all of the above still apply, even if it is latte-sipping picklers who are gobbling up supply.

Here in Seattle, people seem to worry about gentrification out of one side of their mouth, and then worry about the "overbuilding" of new apartments all over town out of the other side of their mouth.

I don't understand whose side these people are on. Maybe they don't either. Let's look at Miami - a frenzy of condo tower building ran right into the brick wall of the Great Recession.

Guess who benefited from that oversupply when developers went bankrupt and banks sold at dramatically reduced prices? A totally different demographic than the northern U.S. baby boomers who saw their life savings decimated in the crash.

As a renter, I hope none of the apartment builders considering jumping into the Seattle market count the cranes in our skyline before they do so. But maybe others will. Or better yet, maybe count the number of new housing units existing zoning will allow popular neighborhoods to add for all those fixie-riding, faux-hawked gentrifiers.

Keep Seattle Crappy! Run down public housing celebrated for spreading blight into neighboring communities

Yesler Terrace is a big chunk of underused urban land. It is directly adjacent to the thriving core of Seattle, consistently one of the top U.S. real estate markets. 

It is one of those rare opportunities to counteract the forces of sprawl gobbling up the countryside as our region attracts people while failing to provide adequate supply of housing within existing neighborhoods. 

But because it is such a hot property, redeveloping this neighborhood can be done without any drain on public money. That's right, we can build more homes for people of low income, at modern building standards, for free. By selling off some of the land to private-sector developers, the public-sector Seattle Housing Authority will earn enough to pay for better than a 100 percent replacement of housing units. And they will be considerably upgraded, new construction housing units compared to the existing 1940s era buildings so valiantly maintained despite heavy usage. 

This is good news not only to the increased numbers of low income people who can get a better place to live in public housing, but to our region as a whole since we want to increase supply and upgrade urban areas to attract people where the jobs are, not just to those easier-to-build new housing subdivisions an hour's commute away.

There's a new wrinkle in the Lesser Seattle tapestry of obstructionism, though, and it is just too good to leave alone: 

Another issue is the massive gentrification that comes with a redevelopment like this. The new Yesler Terrace development will, according to the plan, have more subsidized units than it does today. However, if property values increase dramatically due to all the new high-rise projects, the number of affordable (but not SHA or subsidized) housing options in the nearby area could dry up.
--Central District News: Council Committee passes Yesler Terrace redevelopment plans

As with any change, there will always be naysayers. But this is just laughable: a few hundred units of run down public housing spread out to cover a large area in the center of one of the nation's most successful economies should be preserved because the blight they spread throughout neighboring communities keeps housing prices down. 

Is it just me, or are people sentimentalizing Seattle as it was in the decades following the 1970s Boeing Bust?

'via Blog this'

Citytank on what it means when the naysayers have their say

In case you missed it, a set of opportunity-creating policy changes was recently shot down by some pretty standard NIMBY tactics, with the usual assist from the Seattle Times. Dan Bertolet has the must-read summary of how it went down, and the questions it raises about us as a community

...Consisting of relatively modest, low-hanging-fruit tweaks to the land use code intended to enhance livability and the local economy, the proposal has generated an astounding amount of opposition, most recently with a crowd of naysayers at a Council hearing that succeeded in getting one major component of the proposal thrown out. 

The psychology behind this scenario is complex. The ugly legacy of urban renewal still casts its shadow, and at the core we’re dealing with a wariness of change that is basic human nature.  But while this attitude can be an obstacle to progress in many U.S. cities, here in Seattle it has festered with a mix of timid political leadership and an expectation that everyone must be not only heard but appeased, to form a singularly toxic political dysfunction that would be an entertaining intellectual curiosity if it wasn’t so potentially detrimental to the future of the City.... From: Just Say Nay | citytank

'via Blog this'

Land use lessons - from San Diego (the tech sector of all places)

San Diego business leaders set out to find ways to grow their innovation sector and unlock the door to future economic performance. According to the economist they hired, land use policy is the key they are looking for.

San Diego’s Innovation Economy, and What it Takes to Recruit “The Young and Restless”

Bruce V. Bigelow

As the chief operating officer of the San Diego Regional Economic Development Corp. (EDC), Lauree Sahba says, “Our region’s future as a technology center of excellence depends on our ability to attract and retain the next generation of innovators and young talent.”

Yet Sahba frets that the renowned research institutions and balmy weather that drew the last generation of entrepreneurs to San Diego in the 1970s and ’80s may no longer be enough. The demographics are changing for a highly prized segment of the exponential economy—the well-educated, hard-working, and entrepreneurial adults who are 25 to 34 years old.

Portland economist Joe Cortright calls them “the young and the restless.” With their college and graduate degrees mostly behind them, the young and the restless are in their prime years of mobility. They have the greatest freedom to relocate. But Cortright says the suburban amenities that once made San Diego a kind of idyllic destination a few decades ago are not what the newest crop of the best and brightest are looking for nowadays. And a dream job offer isn’t necessarily enough to make them move either. ...More

A ride on NYC's BRT

I'm riding the newish "Select Bus" service which incorporates BRT features like off-board fare collection and dedicated lanes, although the latter appears to be enforced unevenly:





And goes away in the 2nd Ave Subway construction zone:



The Driver is semi separated from the passengers, which may afford him some additional comfort or safety,


But it doesn't stop riders from pausing upon entering to ask what to do with the proof of payment they bought at the curb:



Follow me on Twitter: www.twitter.com/NKVCD

Weekly Walk Around the News — Feetfirst

Feet First, the advocacy and educational organization that asks "What if our money for transportation was prioritized for people?" has been at the forefront of many important urbanist policy victories in the Seattle area. I just discovered today that they also are combing through the news for pedestrian policy progress, problems and proposals, so you don't have to.

Check out the Weekly Walk Around the News, from Feetfirst. I love news round ups like this and add this to my list of helpful news gatherers, which includes:

My employer, the Fearey Group, which sends out a daily local news round up called the "Local Wire."

The Sightline Institute, some of the smartest folks you are likely to find on sustainability issues in the greater Cascadia region, put out the "Sightline Daily," the latest sustainability news and analysis from around the Northwest.

The City of Seattle's Office of Economic Development helps you keep your "finger on the pulse" as my mom says with their Daily Digest - the latest business, economic, and industry news.

On the national level, The Infrastructurist gets its hands dirty in the "Daily Dig," a linkfest of transportation infrastructure investment and policy news and analysis.

If you're already a follower of walking/pedestrian issues, be sure to add this one to your list, and send along anything interesting you find to derrick@feetfirst.org.

My favorite new Tweep

Lots of people use Twitter for a good cause. Some people use Twitter because they are going through a mid-life crisis. Today I stumbled across the first mid-life-crisis-based Twitter account dedicated to saving the world from climate change, and it immediately became my favorite new Twitter account.

@EarthToTommy
Bio: "My father's mid-life crisis has taken the form of saving the Earth from global warming. He has much to do. I'm going to help :)"

It is, by far, the least embarrassing mid-life crisis I've ever heard of. You're a fortunate kid, Dani. I wish you both the best of luck!