Can people please stop moving to the Seattle area?! (Bellevue: rent, brokers)

[folkguitarist555]

Yea that is one of the reasons why I am leaving Seattle, too much traffic, too congested, and still growing too fast....and rather expensive

[Yakscsd]

Traffic is a result of too many people, your right. And the first thing I like to look at when someone complains about too many people is ask how many kids they have. People have to live and work somewhere. If you have done more than replace yourself on this earth, then you are the root of the problem. You created it, and you will have to deal with it. If on the other hand, you were responsible and had only two children with one partner, then you just have to deal with the others. Overcrowding is a symptom of overpopulation and when you have these absurd people having 22 children, its like a big FU to the world. Its selfish on so many levels. Sure 22 is an extreme, but still look in the mirror and ask if you are part of the problem.

[kanhawk]

Originally Posted by RVD90277

Amazon has 3 new buildings that are still under construction. These are not the small buildings that you see in SLU. These are large buildings south of Denny and they project to open a new building every year for the next 3 years. This means thousands of new hires that will continue.

I do sort of wonder whether there is a necessary business reason for this or whether they could locate these facilities in a less congested area. Long ago businesses had to locate in the central business district of cities, but with mass communication and the internet do they really have to locate there or is it done for more abstract reasons such as a trendy location, etc?

[BellevueNative]

Originally Posted by kanhawk

I do sort of wonder whether there is a necessary business reason for this or whether they could locate these facilities in a less congested area. Long ago businesses had to locate in the central business district of cities, but with mass communication and the internet do they really have to locate there or is it done for more abstract reasons such as a trendy location, etc?

A lot of the people that work in these companies are on the younger side, and a lot of younger people like to live in the city. Families are willing to live in the suburbs and commute into the city, but it doesn't always work the other way. Locating in a desirable location helps with recruitment.

[BATCAT]

Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth

TEN years ago? HAHA! Try 40 years ago! When it would have been easier to run a train down the middle of the freeway and extend it all the way north to Lynnwood or Everett. Then when the tech boom came along, it would have been easy to extend the system around the north side of the lake to Bellevue. But now there's nothing to extend, and hardly any place available to lay the track.

Well, a hundred years ago better still. But my point(s) remain the same.

[toobusytoday]

Originally Posted by displacedmisplaced

We are so jammed packed it's ridiculous. I worry about the future here (and when I say the future, I mean even just the next couple of years). Traffic here is ridiculous. Seattle roads are not modern like other big cities. It is not up to date like it should be, as in enough roads, for the amount of traffic we have. Everyone I have talked to here feels the same way. We are not capable of handling this many people. I keep seeing apartments and condos being built in already heavily populated places and I think this gives the impression to others that there is plenty of space. There isn't!

On that same note, can people please carpool more? That would at least help this situation a little. Less traffic and more money in your pocket. With all the work-at-home situations going on too I am surprised it is still as bad. Maybe it would be worse without those...if that's possible. Busing is an option too, but they have cut many routes now since people don't want to pay for them, which I get, but something has to be done.

I think what you should have said is for people to stop moving to the greater Seattle area who will drive into the city. My son is probably going to take a job offer, move to Seattle, live in the city without a car (he relies on public transit now) and put some money into the local economy. Many city's on the East Coast are not especially modern either. Many of our highways are just massively expanded wagon paths and we made stupid decisions 50 years ago to dismantle local rail service! I'd say count your blessings that you have a vibrant economy and a not-so-bad public transportation set-up.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by kanhawk

I do sort of wonder whether there is a necessary business reason for this or whether they could locate these facilities in a less congested area. Long ago businesses had to locate in the central business district of cities, but with mass communication and the internet do they really have to locate there or is it done for more abstract reasons such as a trendy location, etc?

There's no guarantee that locating a business in a less congested area will decrease congestion. Some people naively assume that those who work in this 'less congested area' will also live there. In practice that rarely happens. People change jobs, spouses work somewhere else, but selling your home and moving is costly, difficult and time consuming. Over time, the 'less congested area' becomes yet another remote bedroom community for people that work somewhere else. Meanwhile, there's not much chance the area will become dense enough to support transit since the original draw was the low density.

Planning a regional transportation system around dozens of little hubs spread out to 'reduce congestion' is a huge logistical nightmare. There's no guarantee that workers will be living and working 1 hub away, 5 hubs away or 25 hubs away. This is why centralizing around a small number of well connected hubs makes sense vs purposely trying to spread things out and hoping that will somehow reduce people's need to commute.

Another approach might be to encourage more people to rent instead of buying homes, along with cutting the transaction fees to buy or sell a home. However there's an entire industry that feeds off that inefficiency...

[RVD90277]

I actually think that a lot of people already take the bus and vanpool to and from work. Traffic is always much worse on rainy days because of the rain but also because people are more apt to just drive in rather than park at a park & ride and get out and wait for the bus, etc.

At least from the eastside to downtown Seattle, the bus options aren't too bad in the mornings and evenings.

RVD.

[BATCAT]

Originally Posted by JoanCrawford

Well then make a "venting" thread.

I think that's what this is.

[RotseCherut]

Seattle has no more space to build outward so now they will build up and up.. Seattle will end up being like Hong Kong or Manhattan with congestion, minus the decent public transportation offered by these cities, at least New York. Sadly, Seattle is still a West Coast city and West Coast people need their cars, me included :P However, I couldn't live in a tiny little box apartment and be smashed into an overcrowded slab of concrete like downtown Seattle, e.g. If there is not grass or trees around my house, I feel like I am in a prison block.


I agree with the OP we need to start getting rid of people..