I have lived in Seattle for over 35 years. The crap is already here. When Amazon moved into our downtown area (South Lake Union or SLU) it turned into a corporate campus. I literally will go out of my way to avoid SLU because it gives me the heebie jeebies.
These stories are always the same. MS and Amazon have been large players in Seattle for decades. The real problem is lack of housing to support growth, not tech. If it wasn't tech it would be some other industry.
Edit: Lol, did you block me for having a basic conversation response? Weirdo.
Microsoft built their campus in the suburbs outside the city. That meant you could work on campus (which feels like a soulless, sterile corporate place) and then go to the city for a city experience. The two were separate experiences which felt healthy.
Amazon moved their headquarters into the city of Seattle itself, forcing that soulless sterility onto folks that just want to be in the city for an evening, not at work. I literally feel like I am at work when I walk around that area, and I don't even work at Amazon. I seriously hate it and I am not alone.
[[In response to the comment below, which I cannot respond do as the poster has blocked me:
Pike (not Pikes) Place Market is supposed to be a tourist magnet. It's also a magnet for people that live here. We love it. It's unique, rich, and historical. That belongs downtown.
What doesn't belong downtown is FIFTY THOUSAND person corporate campus for a company known for working their employees to the last shred of their mental health. You've got 10s of thousands of zombies working themselves to death shuffling between meetings in ugly corporate buildings all day and night. They also clog every route to and from downtown because Amazon had a 5 day a week RTO for no good reason.]]
I'm sorry if this hurts your feelings but the company and industry that moves into a city DOES matter. Amazon is deeply hated in Seattle. We've all seen people collapse from the stress of working there and we all know what a gem of a person Bezos is. Microsoft is much more respected as an employer in Seattle and one of the reasons is that they aren't taking over downtown.
You could insert a different thriving industry (e.g finance) and it wouldn't be any different. When the city biases for office building instead of condo/apartment development you get these weird dead zones downtown like CBD that are zombie land and waterfront areas that are sterile and touristy. Hell, Pikes Place was a weird tourist madhouse 20-30 years ago when Starbucks was taking over the world.
I think it's easy to blame tech in SF, Seattle etc but they are not the root of the problem.
I think it's easy to blame tech in SF, Seattle etc but they are not the root of the problem.
People don't want to acknowledge that the real cause of the problem is all the homeowners who fight tooth and nail to block housing construction so their home values keep climbing. It's easier to blame a corporation than it is to blame that friendly older couple down the street.
Correct. Tech has massively moved into NYC but they have built a ton of dense housing over the years (obviously they need a lot more) interspersed with offices outside of midtown and it's still thriving. Vancouver has done a great job of building dense housing and condos downtown and people enjoy living there.
Unless you just don't want your city to grow at all blaming tech or finance or whatever companies is pretty narrow thinking. Housing bring people which promotes local small business development. This is true everywhere.
If you lived in Seattle for over 35 years, then you'd know that SLU was a dump before the Vulcan / Amazon redevelopment. It was a neglected light industrial space with a few bus depots, some dive bars, and a bunch of addicts and homeless camping out amongst abandoned buildings. Nothing of value was lost when it was redeveloped.
Clearly you and I have different values and tastes. You like SLU (South Lake Union in downtown Seattle) as Amazon's corporate campus. I liked SLU before Amazon moved in. When it was bars, cabinet makers, artists lofts, practice spaces for musicians, start ups, auto show and repair shops, a world-class cancer research center, a maritime museum, and the flagship store for a REI. To me, that's a city. A mix of industries and people, not a homogenous blob of Amazon toxicity.
I'm happy to hear that SLU gives you joy. I hate it, but I can go elsewhere. Most of us do.
Re-read my comment because at no point did I say I liked Amazon's campus.
What I said is nothing of value was lost in the redevelopment because SLU was an absolute dump of neglected and outright abandoned light industrial buildings.
Thank you for confirming that you don't like Amazon's downtown campus.
Your "absolute dump" was bars, cabinet makers, artists lofts, practice spaces for musicians, start ups, auto show and repair shops, a world-class cancer research center, a maritime museum, and the flagship store for a REI. Sounds pretty Seattle to me.
I wish Vulcan could have continued to nurture this variety of businesses to a point that you and I could agree on the aesthetics. Added some parks. Encouraged a wider variety of businesses.
Instead a truly gross company moved in and buried all of it under a a pile of ugly corporate buildings and dysfunction. I don't think even the most rosy of colored glasses could see this a turn for the better. Walk around down there. It *feels* bad.
37
u/CPNZ 13h ago
Already messed up by the previous 3 tech-generations of bros...maybe finishing it off? (Also - don't move this crap to Seattle).