Re: “Fixing Seattle’s housing crunch”:
I wonder if what gets lost in the shuffle is people like me: retired homeowners on fixed incomes who live in small houses valued far under the median home price.
We are not the group who clogs up the roads because we don’t need to commute to jobs. We gulp when we get our property assessments and taxes, and yet we still dutifully vote for education levies because we care about schools. We keep green space because we like to garden while the McMansions and multiple-family units springing up around us fill lots to capacity. We show up for public meetings. We volunteer in the parks and advocate for safe pedestrian crossings. We worry our adult children will never afford to live here until we pass our house along. And, because we have the time to serve on neighborhood committees, we get accused of Not In My Backyard-ism.
Maybe one of the worst casualties of Seattle’s growth will be driving out not those who want to freeze-frame Seattle as it once was, but the remnant who won’t give up on a city we love.
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Kathleen Braden, Seattle