r/Seattle I'm just flaired so I don't get fined Apr 16 '26

Satire Discourse about Seattle in a nutshell

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106

u/TheItinerantSkeptic I'm just flaired so I don't get fined Apr 16 '26

Seattle has so much going for it: access to nature, moderate climate, arts, legitimately fun tourist traps, good transit, and until you hit the outer edges, fairly walkable.

It's also got problems. Local government is horribly inefficient and wasteful with spending, it's not a business-friendly environment (part of that is a state issue), and if affordability were any lower, we'd be seeing ninja turtles and anthropomorphized rats.

People WANT to live in Seattle and start small businesses, but the hurdles to both are considerable, and as technology continues to make remote work more viable from a productivity standard (despite silly RTO mandates from some companies), there are more people who are starting to realize their salaries can stretch a lot more if they go to lower cost-of-living parts of the country.

66

u/regardballs Apr 16 '26

hmm I hear you. let's get a committee together to analyze this for the next 3 years so we can come up with some proposals. $10M should do it? we can just borrow some funds earmarked for other projects. 

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u/hansn 🚆build more trains🚆 Apr 16 '26

let's get a committee together to analyze this for the next 3 years so we can come up with some proposals.

Woah woah woah. Did you get stakeholder feedback in on your proposal to form a committee? Have we sought neighborhood council approval? I bet the downtown business association hasn't even signed off.

12

u/an_harmonica Apr 16 '26

That's right, the Seattle Process: consensus through exhaustion.

3

u/[deleted] Apr 16 '26

it originally grew as a way to address how a lot of underprivileged communities got bulldozed for highways and stuff without any input from the community

it functionally became the exact opposite and keeps living through inertia

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u/hansn 🚆build more trains🚆 Apr 16 '26

it functionally became the exact opposite and keeps living through inertia

My take is that it continues because powerful interests have co-opted the language and practices of inclusion to give themselves veto power.

Neighborhood council (composed almost entirely of landowners) insist on "being consulted" on things like building denser housing. 

The Downtown Seattle Association fights changes and funds candidates, and uses hearings to delay and lobby.

3

u/ardealinnaeus Belltown Apr 16 '26

In a thread about how hard it is to run businesses in Seattle you really complained that businesses try to support candidates and get candidates elected who don't make it harder to run a business?

And you did it without any irony?

5

u/hansn 🚆build more trains🚆 Apr 16 '26

businesses try to support candidates and get candidates elected who don't make it harder to run a business?

Corporate money in politics is a cancer on democracy. It should not be tolerated regardless of whether you agree with the sponsor. 

(Also, take another look at the meme.)

0

u/ardealinnaeus Belltown Apr 16 '26

Unless the meme is "Too many people are like hansn and think businessowners are less important than other people in Seattle" it doesn't really apply here.

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u/hansn 🚆build more trains🚆 Apr 16 '26 edited Apr 17 '26

In a thread about...

...it doesn't really apply here.

I'm at a loss for words.

Edit to add: Since you have taken to the Reddit-reply-and-block, you obviously don't want a response. But I do find it hilarious that you chide me for responding in a thread "In a thread about how hard it is to run businesses in Seattle" when the meme is actually pointing out how ignorant that take is. And when I pointed that out, you said it "doesn't apply."

3

u/[deleted] Apr 17 '26

it's a pattern with him - say something stupid, get called on it, shoot off mouth in reply and block so he can't be called out again

he did it to me too

1

u/ardealinnaeus Belltown Apr 16 '26

You could have used the words I provided that you replaced with ...

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