In How Our Success is Ruining Seattle, I mentioned traffic gridlock and affordable housing issues as lowering the quality of life in Seattle. Over the last 24 hours, I saw two examples of this.
This morning, I received my third recent notice from Zillow yesterday at the rapidly increasing value of my home in Seattle. In 2014, its zestimate grew $101,000. In 2015, it’s already grown an additional $71,000. Certainly, this is great for me economically. Thanks Seattle!
Real Estate Increase in Seattle
But, unless you’re well paid (like an Amazon developer), you likely won’t be able to purchase a home anywhere near the city center. A couple of my friends who rent up the street from me and just had a baby mentioned to me over the weekend that they’ve accepted that they’ve been priced out of the market and won’t be able to purchase a home here. Further, the lack of supply of affordable homes drives up rental costs.
Also, yesterday I tried to make it down from Capitol Hill to my gym. The approach down John St. was slow from 15th Street and backed up to Broadway. The final descent to Stewart Street is a ten minute wait generally these days and then it just gets worse as you get anywhere near Amazon’s headquarters or other downtown areas.
Traffic Coming Down John Street Off Capitol Hill
The few critics of my article seemed to confuse that I’m anti-growth. I’m actually pro-growth but only when infrastructure improvements are funded by sensible development fees and tax structures. Seattle and Washington State’s are clearly not. That’s why this city is ruining livability and culture here for years to come.
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