Friday, June 15, 2018

Seattle and Runaway Growth

Today was good. It wasn’t all that warm, but it quit raining and the skies were blue. We decided to go into downtown Seattle and walk around.  Walking was somewhat difficult because the streets were full of people from a cruise ship.  It was docked up at Pier 91, which is pretty far north, so we couldn’t see it.  Given the number of people on the streets, it must have been big.  There were also tour buses eveywhere.  It’s so weird when the place you used to live becomes a tourist destination.

This is one of the mysteries of the universe.  There is always a line for Piroshky Piroshky. Why?  There are so many places to eat in Seattle, why do the cruise ship people stand in really long lines for this?  They also queue for the original Starbucks which is also inexplicable.


We walked down closer to the water and looked back at the city.  It’s just amazing how much it has grown.


This was taken at the Bell Street Pier.  Lower right is transient moorage.  Those are all classic boats, they’re going to be open to the public this weekend.


This is one of the piers where the cruise ships dock. 


On the way out of Seattle, we saw a new giant hole in the ground.  Neither one of us can remember what used to be here.


Here we are back in Issaquah traveling on I90.  That used to be open land, 30 acres.  The developers have bought it and are building apartments.  Two separate developments are going in on the land.  One is the Issaquah Senior Gateway project.  There will be 146 units of restort style living for active old people.  The buildings in the photo are the Issaquah Gateway project.  That project consists of 398 (653 bedrooms) apartments. Approximately 425,600 sf in 19 separate buildings on a 30 acre site.  Getting out of there in the morning is going to be difficult.  Locally there has been some pushback about dumping that many cars on a two lane road with blind corners.  The developer has assured the citizens that the increase in traffic will decrease speeds so all will be well.  I’m not sure that was the most persuasive argument for increased traffic volumes.  The article is here.


This is the first rabbit we’ve seen since we got back.  They used to be plentiful, but the the predators got them.  There’s a lot less rabbit poop on the site.



3 comments:

  1. We've noticed in Arizona that all the new houses going up are soooo close to each other. We have more room in our RV park between rigs than they have between the houses. I am so thankful I am retired and I don't have to deal with the traffic anymore. I can't imagine what it's going to be like with all those apartments. Like a nightmare. Sometimes what they call progress is a mess.

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  2. Like, Portland, like San Diego, etc., every big city is going gangbusters on multifamily housing because of lack of land for growth. In Portland we noticed they didn't even have to provide parking! Trying to persuade people to ride mass transit I suppose.

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  3. I've been observing the cruise ships and their passengers in Cozumel for decades now, both of which seem to be getting larger. And there is a weird herd mentality about the passengers but I think that the cruise companies recommend certain places (and get kick backs, no doubt) for the day trippers and in the case of Cozumel, warn the herds that getting off the main streets could be dangerous which is absurd and also means that the folks don't get nearly as good an experience as they could have if they just walked a few streets farther away from the sea walk. And I've never understood how so many of them get as far as the closest bar and don't leave until it's time to get back on the boat. Or go to the few American chain places on the island which includes...Starbucks!

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