May 24, 2006
Utopian Visionaries Run Amok
When easy parking is considered a social evil - and it is here in Seattle, as I was reminded again Monday downtown - anything is possible. On display now in Seattle City Hall are some of the land-use visions of Seattle 2100. The group's sponsors include the University of Washington, the city, and the city's parks and recreation department; and a wide range of enviros and open space advocates participated in the, ah, visioning. It's some vision, alright. Today's Seattle Post-Intellligencer has more.
Some participants wanted to see a percentage of the sales tax go toward putting lids on highways, establishing stricter codes to curb building in hazardous areas and expanding notions of open space to include streets, which constitute more than a third of the city's publicly owned land....Exhibits on display at City Hall, culled from February's design extravaganza, include futuristic water taxis, individual monorail pods and streets that have been turned over to pedestrians and streams as our reliance on cars wanes. Across the board, several themes emerged: saving green space by concentrating people in high-density buildings.....
City Councilman Peter Steinbrueck, who is on the group's guidance committee, said there's great value in examining the future without the usual constraints that budgets or reality imposes. Now, he said, the task will be to sort through the best ideas with more community participation and develop a cohesive vision.
The more "cohesive" vision may be somewhat less untethered to reality and budgets, but let's get a few things straight. More parks, trails and multi-use public spaces certainly are necessary as Seattle's density grows. However, urban "open space" alone falls short: you need trails running through that forested public land. Now as to taking streets away from drivers, and funneling folks into tall, high-density buildings, and tiny monorail pods -- just what was on the refreshments table during the visioning? B.C. Bud or Humboldt County's Finest? If a Seattle without real transportation choices and families sounds good to you, then so will Seattle 2100's phantasmagoric dream. Oh, and, uh, aren't we going to be voting on a roughly $1.8 billion city transportation tax package that targets fixing up the streets from which Seattle 2100 wants to ban vehicles?
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at May 24, 2006
07:09 AM | Email This
1. They would last longer if they're not used. so it sort of makes sense. It could be a cost saving measure.
2. Beware Seattle "visions."
40 years ago they said the Kalakala was a futuristic and beautiful ferry.
Yeah, right.
Besides, since when did any Councilpersons, or politicians in general, examine the future and feel constrined by budgets or reality? In less than 60 days South Seattle (aka Olympia) went from a $900 million rainy day fund to a $800 million shortfall. Just what reality are we living in?
3. Matt,
Welcome to "smart growth" .
4. Hey, here is a question for you. If the idea of high density is to cram people in a small space, doesn't new parks take away from that density? Makes me go 'hmmmmm.
5. At this rate they'll have to close ALL Seattle public schools because there will be no families at all living there.
6. Pete Steinbruck:
"There's great value in examining the future without the usual constraints that budgets or reality imposes.
Now, the task will be to sort through the best (most whimsically eye appealing) ideas with more community
participation, and develop a cohesive vision of how we will screw people and break the law in order to force
superficial profligate impracticality into reality."
Liberal governance is soo easy . . . just follow the dots I make people.
Don't worry, I'll handle it for ya.
7. The key comment: "concentrating people in high-density buildings...". All liberal visionaries view Moscow (USSR for you Palouse emigres) circa 1972 as absolutely the perfect urban environment. The proles lived packed into the high rises and forced into their various mass transit options leaving the roads blissfully traffic free except for the elites in the back seats of their sedans. And only the upper class political powers had the nice dachas in the country. A socialist utopia, so why wouldn't we expect the lefties running Seattle to get all nostalgic and sentimental over the wondrous beauty that was Brezhnevian Russia and want to duplicate it here?
8. ah, the breathtaking arrogance of those who know best.
9. Pete Steinbruck = open space = between his ears
10. I think I've figured out what's wrong with Seattle. All these people live smooshed together, and they want to concentrate it even more. Concentrated demand on oxygen supply --> Less oxygen to breathe ---> anoxia and cyanosis ---> people suffer brain damage and turn blue ...
11. Ah, the utopian dreams of the terminally socialist.
If only that nasty thing called money, or fiscal reality, or even reality, wouldn't keep getting in the way.
12. Rarely do we get to know what the liberal game plan is long range. Thye need to hide or disguise their intended end result or everybody would revolt. That said, this is pretty much what the liberals want for all of us. That would be everybody in high-rise/block condos or apartments using only public transportation unless you have a bike or maybe you would be allowed to own a motorized scooter. All unutilized lands (like where your house had been) would be returned to a wild state.
If yoou go back and look at policies like the 65-10, you see it happening.
13. Sometimes I wish they would go all the way and just propose replacing Seattle with an
arcology. If density is an unalloyed good, then why not go for the max?
That would be a fun debate, though I think most of us are happier not living in an ant hill.
14. An arclogy is what I speak. Although if you check out Arcosanti, it sure seems to me to be like old-fashioned sprawl (in a sensitive desert area) but with uglier buildings.
The reason these dreamers won't "go for the max" is because the people have already spoken. Most want a lawn and a garage to call their own not a cubbyhole in a 40-story cement condo. There is a lot to be said about a backyard barbeque and a cooler full of beer.
To get people to tow the line will require a Soviet style pogrom of mass forced moves, probably couched in "saving the environment" using the Endangered Species Act and backed by the courts. And don't think it can't happen here. How about those bears in the U District? The salmon aren't doing very well either.
15. Why not just a Molokai for Collectivists and Liberals? They want to live together in Utopia, so let's create one for them, send them all there and see if they can hack it without the productivity of individulaists and freedome oriented wealth generators as a tax base for them to survive upon.
It didn't work so well in the USSR, but hey, the Seattle Collectivists deserve just as much of a chance to fail and learn for themselves, as long as it's not on our dime.
16. Can it please be on an island with no ferry service?
17. Jeff, The problem with isolating socialist liberals on a island is that they don't want to live by the rules they set they want you to live by them, it would be no fun for them to have to live by their own rules, thus Boss Nickels and his Cadillac SUV gas hog, and the truly liberal flocking to some Microsoft billionaire's house the size of small country to talk about forcing people into denser housing.
Remember with liberals the intention is all that counts not the action.
18. They do have a plan -- what has been happening to Seattle -- our culture, or property prices, our taxes -- is simply too much to believe that it is an accident -- and they will (or try to) carry out their plans regardless of reality and they can BECAUSE THEY ARE IN POWER -- AND WILL STAY IN POWER (all 10,400 city workers) and their hanger's on
19. Hey Matt...
I thought that the DIORAMA was left over from the 1960 Seattle’s World Fair entitled...Seattle Utopia 2000!!!
20. Talk about disingenuous, the drawing in the paper shows both Qwest and Safeco fields. There is no way we won’t have built several new stadiums in Seattle by 2100, and why didn’t the drawing show the Sonics new sports facility floating on suspensor pods over the bay with mass transit only access?
21. "... saving green space by concentrating people in high-density buildings..."
Praise be to Allah! The infidels are herding themselves like fish into a barrel! The 72 white raisins await!
22. Dan- you're so right. Everybody knows that the life span of a Seattle Arena is 10 years and a stadium is 25 years. Using non KC math, that's 9.3 new replacement arenas and 7.44 new stadiums (3.72 baseball stadiums and 3.72 football stadiums).
23. The local and state government officials are always examining idiotic projects without the constraints of reality or budget. This is just another case of "Do as I say..."
When the mayor and the council members practice what they preach, then I might listen to what they have to say. But this latest multibillion dollar boondoggle to "fix the roads" is just a poorly disguised attempt to come up with the funding for the tunnel these clowns so desparately want. I am all for permanently sealing up the bus tunnel if we could put these nutjobs and their supporters in it. The rest of us can then address the problems in a rational way.
24. Do some googling...wildliferecreation.org, cascade agenda, cascade land conservancy.
Spokesman Peter Bohen in May 17 King County Journal..."we need to keep as many people living in urban areas as possible"
Lofty ideals couched in enviro babble, too bad much of this is done on our tax dollars.
Wonder why the constant need for more tax dollars? As this land is "saved" it is removed forever form the tax rolls.
25. Some other good googling for you
Agenda 21
Wildlands project
Takingliberty.us (if you have high speed very good)
Randy O'toole
26. Matt,
I think I remember seeing Seattlelites vision of the future as a movie in the early 70's.
"Soylent Green", (1973) starring Charlton Heston.
27. Here the real problem if they succeed and get all of the density and streets turned to walking trails were will all the illegal aliens stand while they are looking for work?
Oh, I forgot they are all about to be made citizens!
28. Seattle can tax itself into oblivion for all their urban utopia projects for all I care. Just stop making the rest of the county and state pay for it. Build a tunnel, build high rises, build a street car, whatever. If you build it, they will come, right? Great, that leaves more space out in the country for the rest of us.