Gentrification is inevitable. The people gentrifying were also priced out of communities they’d rather live in.

That is fucking evil.

This issue could clearly only be worked out in court. Abramovitz sued Lee for $300,000 and won. The judge tacked on an extra $50,000 for “her despicable interference in Mr. Abramovitz’s career.”

I can’t deny her success or versatility. I’m still content to deny everything else. I hope she keeps serving lewks and making hits because these Playboy article style interviews with her only underscore how much self-awareness and depth she lacks.

Yeah, this article was written by someone who has no idea what they’re talking about. Just another day a Jez...

I call bullshit on your caricature of Seattle homeowners, not so much as a personal attack but because I’ve noticed an ageist bent to Seattle’s political rhetoric lately.

Agreed, but selling the state on an income tax without repealing sales tax in the same measure is a no go. If I remember correctly, the most recent attempt at floating a state tax initiative left the sales tax intact. Which led the people in my circle who have been for it for decades to vote against it.

I’ve lived in…

Just a little anecdote about that petition: I live in a progressive, well-educated Seattle neighborhood. Last week I was down at my local Trader Joe’s, and a signature gatherer was out front. I literally had to wait in line to sign it. He didn’t even have to solicit people - they saw him out front and made a beeline…

Uh, no. The head tax was killed by a citizen’s initiative that had gained enough signatures in a few weeks to qualify for the ballot in November. Most of the signature gatherers were volunteers and citizens were lining up to sign it. Paid activists from homeless advocacy groups (funded by taxpayers) attempted to…

I’m in the Midwest, but had similar thoughts. 1) politicians always seem more interested in putting their name on something, than are in spending the money wisely. b) what’s the current zoning regs? If someone can build an economy hotel across the street from Amazon, how much of a dent would that make? But most people…

I live in Seattle, and you are 100% correct. This article is misleading in a variety of ways about the causes and consequences of homelessness in Seattle, as well as the notion that Amazon/Bezos is solely stifling the head tax. Amazon/Bezos doesn’t want it, that’s true, but neither does a substantial portion of metro…

Exactly. I’m not against taxing the shit out of Amazon on principle. While they did didn’t intentionally fuck up the Seattle housing market, they predominately hired highly skilled, highly paid workers from out of state and expanded rapidly, created a housing shortage where new employees are able to outbid anyone who…

The thing is if this had gone to the ballot, which is where it was going to end up, Seattle city voters would have vetoed it. I have my issues with Amazon, the city council and our bullshit tax structure but Bezos is not strong arming the council into this, as this article would suggest

I actually am not a huge fan of this tax, though I’m an executive at a company that would have been affected, and come on, $275/person/year or whatever it was is not a big deal at all. Think of it this way: Their salaries could be $275 higher and then you’d owe that + other taxes. So the opposition to it from a cost…

Hi there. I live here.

Yea but at the end of the day this was bad policy. Because it wasn’t just going to be a tax on Amazon or a tax on Starbucks. There were a lot of other companies that are far less profitable that were going to get hit.

This is FAR too simplified. If Katie had looked into it, she would find that the citizens of Seattle have supported so many tax hikes. Now there is a rebellion. Jeff is one vote, not the thousands that signed a petition to revoke the tax.

“Lexi, who seems like an extremely fun person to hang out with...”

I have seen a couple of sites trying to make a fuss out of this and say that homophobia was some sort of skeleton in Fred Rogers’ closet. But that is really judging people of half a century ago by the morality of today. It is amazing that Clemmons wasn’t fired. Gay people (especially men) around children was regarded…

Cascadia, baby.