Last month, gentrification on Capitol Hill got the spotlight treatment with a front page feature from the Seattle Times. While the Capitol Hill Community Council frequently deals with the more granular issues of public safety and development, the group is seizing the opportunity on Thursday to address the neighborhood’s big picture transformation.
The council is hosting a panel discussion with Seattle Times reporter Tricia Romano on her story Culture clash as gentrification engulfs Capitol Hill for the council’s Thursday evening meeting. The panel will include a slate of familiar Capitol Hill faces that were included in Romano’s story:
Michael Wells: Capitol Hill Chamber of Commerce
Adé Cônnére: Capitol Hill resident
Shelley Brothers: Wildrose owner
Diana Adams: Vermillion owner
Branden Born: Assoc. UW Professor, Urban Design & Planning
Perhaps expecting a larger turnout than usual, the Community Council meeting will be held at 6 PM in the First Baptist Church at Harvard Ave and Seneca St, instead of its usual venue in Cal Anderson Park.
Join the Capitol Hill Community Council for our April General Monthly meeting for a Gentrification Conversation with Tricia Romano – Seattle Times writer – to explore the focus of her recent article, “Cultures Clash as Gentrification Engulfs Capitol Hill.” Tricia’s article sparked many conversations in and around Capitol Hill since published in the Seattle Times and we are excited to welcome her at our April meeting to start this critical conversation.
Community Engagement activities for attendees start at 6:00pm, the main program begins at 6:30pm. Additionally, notecards will be given at the door for attendees to write their questions for a brief Q&A at the end of the meeting.
For more details, visit the event’s Facebook page.
The “Welcome Rich Kids” sign insinuates that the “kids” got their money from their parents. Pretty condescending to people who have worked their asses off. We all agree for the most part that CH has changed dramatically for the worse but it baffles me when people think they deserve to live in a certain neighborhood.
I am living a comfortable life due to working in the tech sector, and I have done some hard work in school and at work, and I have mixed feelings about people complaining they can’t afford the hill.
On the one hand, I see people who tend bar or wait tables or make “art,” and I think about how vastly much more money these people made than I did right out of high school, largely due to getting tipped for being young and good-looking. And sometimes I feel a bit of glee thinking about how nerdy old me with all my non-cool math and science classes can now easily afford this neighborhood while people who had better and cooler things to do than take difficult classes to learn skills that have a high value in the market now have to move out because young and cute doesn’t last forever.
On the other hand, the folks I have met with good jobs in tech generally come from pretty solid middle to upper-middle-class homes with all sorts of support for their education and good models for how to behave in the workplace. I try to keep in mind that even if I have worked hard, I have had advantages others haven’t.
But yeah, not much sympathy for white kids who don’t have specialized skills but still want everything they want. Who’s cool now? Ha ha, suck it :-)
I have to say I agree….This entitlement attitude is puzzling. It’s not as though it hasn’t been obvious for 30+ years the key to a comfy standard of living has been nerdy/techy job skills. Not a news flash. Obvious even when I was in HS, and I”m old. And you didn’t– and still don’t– have to be rich or comfortable already to get those skills. There’s still $$ for low-income kids in technical fields IF they’re serious. (Not dissing students from super-disadvantaged and challenged backgrounds, but those you say “had better and cooler things to do than take difficult classes”); then graduate with non-marketable skills, do nothing to make themselves more employable, and complain they can’t afford their neighborhood anymore. No shit? I see people in their early 20’s with their entire life to update skills to relevance, but they just don’t want to. Not sure I’d go so far as to say “suck it”, but hard to feel sorry for them whining about getting priced out of everything. Lots of affluent techy-nerds had NOTHING handed to them.
You don’t have to be “young and good looking” to get a tipped service job. You have to work ridiculously hard and long hours and build a resume in that industry. I started in retail in high school and continued working minimum wage jobs through college. I’m working a low paying job now, but it employs skills that I have and love–writing, reading, and critical thinking. The classes I took in literature, history, and political theory were incredibly challenging. I saw many math and science majors drop classes I took within the first two weeks, claiming they were too hard and required too much writing. Communication and writing is so important in everyday interpersonal connection and in many jobs. Math is not my forte, nor does it interest me. I don’t think my former classmates were entitled; we just pursued classes and careers we love.
I love that nerds and geeks have become so valued by businesses and are so sought after. Congrats, for real. I don’t think anyone, or most people, have a problem with that. Gentrification on the hill is *so* not a geeks vs. artists/cool people battle.
The concern is that the hill is careening towards a monoculture. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could live here, but all the artists, musicians, bartenders, and waiters could remain here, too?
I’m a long-term resident of the hill, and I welcome you and other tech industry folks. But understand that unless long-term residents can remain on the hill, the people who made the hill what it is won’t be here for much longer. How do you think that will change the hill? Will you still want to live here when the hill looks like downtown Bellevue? (If you think that won’t happen, read about the history of Belltown.)
Also, the assumption that non-STEM classes (and careers) aren’t challenging or do not require “specialized skills” or hard work is a little bit of b.s., don’t you think? Hard work and skill is required to do anything well—be it programming, painting, engineering, music, or bartending. High pay and demand doesn’t automatically anoint a field as more challenging than another. Unless you think the Kardashians have the most difficult job in the land. ;)
condescending sign is condescending, glad that education really paid off.
My education has paid off, thank you. Sounds like yours hasn’t because you’re a prick.
The only dramatically worse things about the hood other than rent) are the rotten attitudes of people like you who really need to just up and move away.
I’m not convinced Capitol Hill has changed for the worse. And with the exception of three years, I’ve lived here since 1987. It’s changed, true, but I don’t think there’s a consensus view.
I’ve lived my entire life on the hill around Group Health. The fact that it’s built up doesn’t bother me but every new establishment is a bar that’s exactly the same as the bar next to it. Just seems kinda stale and I’ll admit that the lack of parking is frustrating. CH to me is Sunset Books, Fred Meyer, Jim the Barber, Baskin and Robbins, etc.
3rdEye, in your previous comment (above) you state that “we all agree for the most part that CH has changed dramatically for the worse…..”
I do not agree. I’ve lived here for 38 years, and I think that generally things have gotten better in the past few years. I would like to see better quality architecture in the new buildings, and I also would like to see more affordable housing…..such as at the upcoming development at the light rail station. But no matter how much effort is put into that, there is never going to be enough such housing on Capitol Hill, and some people are going to have to live elsewhere.
I agree. I’ve only lived on the hill since 98 and it’s changed of course but it’s not terrible.
My only issue is with the rising costs of housing. I wish it were more affordable and more family-friendly but it is a consequence of the neighborhoods proximity to Downtown with limited space in a market that has remained hot from an employment perspective.
I lived the last two years in a so called luxury building. Most of the fixtures were Early Walmart, the noise from the upstairs neighbor was like a bowling alley, the office staff changed quite often so they usually did not know the renters and often we were not notified when packages arrived. After a year, the ice maker in the fridge still was not fixed.
The rent started at $2100 and when the third year came aroundI was invited to stay at $3,050…you gotta be shitting me. I am an 80 year old artist, and money has always been tight.
I moved to LongBeach, Ca.and will always miss the great city of Seattle.
Here for $2100 a month, we have a 24 hour door person, a heated swimming pool and jacuzzi, an exercise room with a sauna, a meeting room and library. And, are you ready? two parking spaces. I can afford art supplies, but in Seattle I was two blocks away from Dick Blick. Sigh!
Extremely useful post, thank you. Highlights the just simple greed in the real estate game.
Yes, some people just complain, but the tech people who post on here and act like they somehow worked harder and therefore deserve higher pay are making a lot of assumptions. Many of us worked very hard and got very good grades in other fields which just don’t pay as much as computer fields. Some of us worked hard in computer fields and got good grades but are not seen as viable because we have the skills but we’re not as desirable in a tech culture that values youth over experience. Others worked hard (in tech) and excelled but just don’t happen to be male, and in an industry which is about 90% male (when companies are forced to release their statistics) the women are less likely to get jobs with the same or better skills. Some people just aren’t good at the sort of skills that computer jobs require. There are many reasons you may earn more, and you may indeed be good at what you do and have worked hard to get it. That doesn’t mean that you’re better than anyone else, and it doesn’t mean that they didn’t. That’s just arrogance, which is never an attractive quality.
Victim mentality is not an attractive quality. I’m a minority woman who grew up in the ghetto and was expected to have 5 kids by 16. I wanted none of that. 20 years later I am doing well, in the tech sector. A lot of hard work, sacrifices, tough decisions, growing up, mistakes, and luck. I make my choices, take full responsibility and I have no excuses. If something doesn’t work then change it, change yourself, or leave it. If people gave up and don’t affect the status quo we women will still be barefoot in the kitchen. Things aren’t that horrible but it’s a process to progress.
Hear, hear. This notion that women can’t excel in the tech industry is nonsense. Also there is the fact that not everyone in the tech industry, ironically, IS ACTUALLY TECHNICAL! I work in the tech industry and I’m not especially technical. There are jobs there. There are women in them. They pay well. Part of the scarcity of women in tech jobs is because they don’t pursue them. Yeah, you get some ‘male attitude’, but seriously– not much. And some disproportionate male representation is due to hiring of H-1 visa foreign workers, not because women are discriminated against. They just happen to be more men then women from India and other such countries. It’s not because tech companies won’t hire women. They seriously want to, if they’re there to choose from.
The tech industry is the reason for the change on the Hill and to say otherwise is nonsense. Tons of overpaid workers being brought in from all areas of the country and globe for that matter with money to burn that are willing and able to pay way way more for housing than was the norm up until the Amazombie and Microsoftie tech invasion. This has displaced a lot of good people that have worked hard their whole lives and by all normal senses would be considered middle class. I had to move to south King County after living for years on the hill because I found myself being forced out of every place on the Hill that I moved every 6-12 months because the rents would be jacked up every single time. My original 400sq ft studio I paid $700 for in 2009 now rents for $1350 with ZERO updates or renovations. The entire building had been longer term tenants some of which had lived there since Kennedy was president. Now, there are only two left.
There are those who keep bringing up “entitlement” mentality when it comes to longer term Hill residents who are now complaining. Nobody is complaining about new people moving into the area. I had met many great new residents before I was forced to move. The complaint is that these new residents are displacing long term residents and businesses at an alarming rate due to landlord/management company greed and essentially forcing many people out of their homes (yes rentals included).
I feel our city and its restrictions on zoning are more to blame than the landlords. Limited supply and high demand typically drive up prices. If our city rezoned so we could build larger structures we could accommodate more residents at lower costs. Understanding the housing crash of 2009 didn’t help things.
I’m also tired of people stating the new workers are overpaid. Who are we to judge a workers value?
Bob, maybe you should had purchased a home. I had to move off the hill (to Burien) for a year and put in some sweat equity so I was able to return to the hill, buying a modest condo. Unlike rents, my mortgage will never go up. Problem solved.
Thank you., “Overpaid” is usually codespeak for, “they get paid lots more than I do, and I deserve it more”.
They’re not ‘overpaid’. They’re more marketable. Does it suck for those ‘less marketable’? Yes, totally, but that’s life, and always will be. Plenty of people I work with make much more $$ than I do, but as long as I’m not inclined to do anything about it, I’ll just STFU.
Thank you. And here we go again, those evil Microsoft/Amazon employees ruining it for everyone else. Look, we showed up, took the jobs, and went apartment hunting, just like everyone else. And trust me, we have ZERO input on how much rent this or that building charges. Look to zoning restrictions, greedy landlords/developers, or simple supply and demand to blame for rising rents. Not to taxpaying, steady tech workers who help keep Seattle well-funded and afloat.
Your only real protection against skyrocketing rents is to become a landowner/property owner yourself. It’s been that way since the concept of “property” began.
I miss the Capitol Hill of years gone by…40yr trust fund dudes sitting in front of Bahaus in thier leather jackets and ratty Ramones t’s smoking cigs and drinking coffee