Seattle Now Fastest Growing Large City in U.S. (Tacoma: condos, crime)

[Seacove]

It's not our imaginations, the city grew 18.7% since the beginning of the decade, outpacing Austin. While we have our complainers, many no longer living in the metro or some even in the state, people still keep coming. We live in an extremely beautiful setting. Genuinely hoping to share some of that growth with places like Tacoma, because we just don't have enough houses for all the people that want to buy.

114,000 more people: Seattle now decade’s fastest-growing big city in all of U.S.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle...united-states/

[tommy64]

Tacoma is safe from the sprawl. It has The Hilltop which had serious crime in the 80's, and it's "gritty". Nobody likes it's dirty, second class image, whether it's deserved or not.

But if that keeps the riff-raff from creeping down from Seattle's overflowing cesspool, it's a plus for T-Town!

Of course, with Pierce County's proposal of $275 tax credit in response to Seattle's shotgun-blast-to-it's-own-foot, T-Town may become a serious rival to Seattle sooner than later.

[homesinseattle]

And they keep coming..that's why the bottom's not going fall out of this place anytime soon. So many people associate Seattle's growth with just Amazon hiring but in truth, there are many companies here. Most of the people I meet who are moving here are truly excited. They aren't just coming for the job but often because they want to be in Seattle.

[pnwguy2]

True but already the growth is slowing somewhat. The Bay Area experienced a similar slowdown 2-3 years ago and it has been increasingly losing population since. The anti business city council isn’t helping and I would expect the current downward trend will continue.

[MtnSurfer]

This sort of reminds me of what SoCal was like growing up there. LA, OC and SD were always large compared to the rest of the nation. However places like Orange County actually had open land with orange groves! People continued to pour in over decades and developers went hog wild buying out farms and tearing down old homes as fast as they could. LA spilled out toward in the Inland Empire when concrete covered everything else. San Diego development continued to explode in all directions. Now looking back it has really become a concrete jungle with overcrowding on almost every street and piece of land.

I hope and pray that type of over development and hysteria does not befall Seattle. There is too much natural beauty up there and unfortunately many directions to cut more trees and build new condos, small lot cookie cutter homes, etc...

Hopefully some sanity will prevail in the decision making process. Greed unfortunately is a strong motivator. Urban planning will be a monumental task especially to get it right. I guess much of the final outcome lies in the hands of the urban planners and politicians who pay them. Where will that new tax money go? There's a fine balance between being 'pro growth' and environmentally responsible. Will improving public transportation become a higher priority? How about decentralizing some of the companies to outlying areas which could help revitalize other communities?

Time will tell where all those people migrate to. I'm sure some areas will become gentrified with a lot of appreciation over time. Maybe Olympia will one day became a great city? A new university would really help. Or maybe they like it just as it is and are fine with Seattle taking the brunt of the deluge?

Derek

[87112]

It was not that long away I use to ride my motorcycle on weekends up and down I-5 without checking the traffic reports and basically all over the Sound. Now, forget it, there is only one direction for a great ride. Go East on I-90. I actually sold my motorcycle for this reason.

[Flightoficarus87]

It'll be interesting to see if the growth starts to slow down or not with the new head tax (assuming it doesn't get a ballot initiative and shot down by the public).

Either way, I think it's safe to say the old Seattle is over, and perpetually bad traffic and high COL is here to stay.

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

This sort of reminds me of what SoCal was like growing up there. LA, OC and SD were always large compared to the rest of the nation. However places like Orange County actually had open land with orange groves! People continued to pour in over decades and developers went hog wild buying out farms and tearing down old homes as fast as they could. LA spilled out toward in the Inland Empire when concrete covered everything else. San Diego development continued to explode in all directions. Now looking back it has really become a concrete jungle with overcrowding on almost every street and piece of land.

I hope and pray that type of over development and hysteria does not befall Seattle. There is too much natural beauty up there and unfortunately many directions to cut more trees and build new condos, small lot cookie cutter homes, etc...

Hopefully some sanity will prevail in the decision making process. Greed unfortunately is a strong motivator. Urban planning will be a monumental task especially to get it right. I guess much of the final outcome lies in the hands of the urban planners and politicians who pay them. Where will that new tax money go? There's a fine balance between being 'pro growth' and environmentally responsible. Will improving public transportation become a higher priority? How about decentralizing some of the companies to outlying areas which could help revitalize other communities?

Time will tell where all those people migrate to. I'm sure some areas will become gentrified with a lot of appreciation over time. Maybe Olympia will one day became a great city? A new university would really help. Or maybe they like it just as it is and are fine with Seattle taking the brunt of the deluge?

Derek

Well people that haven't moved here yet could still choose another location like Bellingham, Tacoma or Olympia.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Seacove

Well people that haven't moved here yet could still choose another location like Bellingham, Tacoma or Olympia.

I know we are considering something along those lines. If it is that impacted and getting worse we would most likely prefer somewhere with more elbow room given the choice.

However, for those without the freedom to choose because of limited places to work its another story. Fortunately my company allows telecommuting. Yet many/most companies still do not. So its either stay somewhere less appealing or take a new, potentially better position *in* Seattle... and the growth continues. There's really no stopping that at this stage. Companies are growing and job offers are going out all over the country and world.

Granted some folks can move to Olympia, take a potential pay cut and still make ends meet. But let's face it, those areas have far fewer jobs, pay is generally low(er) and the economies are more boutique vs. diversified like Seattle. Over time hopefully that will change. Its going to take some companies willing to start something new and invest in those areas. I'm not talking little specialty businesses or barely surviving industries but something more substantial.

There's a certain critical mass that an area like Seattle hits when many companies and other innovators come together. This draws more of the same like the Silicon Valley with Stanford, UC Berkeley, SJSU, Santa Clara U, etc... Even Portland wanted to have something like this with their Silicon Forest. But its more limited with Nike, a few others and no flagship research universities. Still not like Seattle when it comes to attracting talent. I think having UW right there really helps. In a way Seattle is becoming the victim of its own success. You have to be careful what you wish for as a city or at least plan for it if the success comes.

Derek

[uniquetraveler]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

I hope and pray that type of over development and hysteria does not befall Seattle. There is too much natural beauty up there and unfortunately many directions to cut more trees and build new condos, small lot cookie cutter homes, etc...

Hopefully some sanity will prevail in the decision making process. Greed unfortunately is a strong motivator. Urban planning will be a monumental task especially to get it right. I guess much of the final outcome lies in the hands of the urban planners and politicians who pay them. Where will that new tax money go? There's a fine balance between being 'pro growth' and environmentally responsible. Will improving public transportation become a higher priority? How about decentralizing some of the companies to outlying areas which could help revitalize other communities?

Time will tell where all those people migrate to. I'm sure some areas will become gentrified with a lot of appreciation over time. Maybe Olympia will one day became a great city? A new university would really help. Or maybe they like it just as it is and are fine with Seattle taking the brunt of the deluge?

Derek

I think there is a smart way to handle growth while maintaining the natural beauty of the region, the mountain, lakes and the sound. Instead of allowing sprawl, the city needs to rezone most of the single family neighborhoods within the city limit, Seattle has one of the largest percentage of single family homes among any major us cities. Having high rises within the city limit, expanding mass transit and train will confine lot of the new growth to city limit and thus in turn protect the forest and woodland. Carbon emission can also be greatly reduced with expansion of light rail within the metro area..

There is of course going to be push back from the homeowners but on the long run it is better for the region and the city.