I’ve always admired Sam Zell. History doesn’t repeat, but it rhymes. 18 months ago when the 10-year spiked to 2.5%+ off historic lows, I sensed the tide was going out. This tweet wasn’t seen by many, but I’d like to think I was the first to say:
I'm not conservative. I'm a moderate who has lived in and loved this city for decades. Nobody is saying Seattle has no assets. Of course it does. That's exactly what makes this so frustrating.
We have Amazon, Microsoft, and incredible natural beauty. And yet our office vacancy is 36.5%. State spending has more than tripled in a decade while population grew 17%. 44% of business leaders are considering leaving. Luxury listings spiked 65% the day after the income tax passed.
Pointing out that the house is on fire doesn't mean you hate the house. It means you want to save it.
"We build our American cities around fire trucks…
…We should design our cities, then make the fire trucks fit."
In America, we have the largest fire trucks in the world—
and they’re quietly shaping how our cities look, feel, and function.
In this clip with @AustinTunnell , we break down how one overlooked policy is leading to worse urban design.
Dog, this is so sad.
Imagine all the lives that were never had in San Francisco because it refused to build housing. Multiple lost generations of artists, writers and creatives.
Not to mention the literal lives that were never conceived because couples couldn’t afford a home.
@jesseproudman This is the key point to drive home. A policy intended to increase revenue is more likely to decrease it and simultaneously blow a hole the state budget.
@benmaritz You sending notices via certified mail? How have you solved the Washington state postmark requirement? None of the big platforms (Lob, PostGrid, etc) can postmark from WA. We’re overdue for a catchup.
Well shared and said @stevemgordon67 I can add that almost every established tech founder I know has left or is planning to leave washington state. While some “big business” leaders might be willing to trade an income tax for a few tax breaks, most innovators are exhausted by WA state’s high costs, poor services and anti-business rhetoric
Seattle could immediately become one of the world's greatest cities if we embraced our tech industry 🛰️
@SpaceX just acquired xAI and to build the world's biggest industry ever ... Datacenters in Space
Where are they hiring? Seattle. Where is @Starcloud_ (launched the first datacenter in space) based? Seattle. Why? Because we have the best satellite engineers in the world (@Starlink has had an office here for a while) Oh and @blueorigin HQ? Seattle.
I grew up in Seattle and it's always been a place for the world's brightest tech talent. Sadly, this is changing ...
Seattle's citizens seem to embrace an anti-tech, 'everyone who is successful is bad' culture (we drove away Bezos). This is so lame and killing our golden goose that has built the amazing PNW 🌲
It is my mission for Seattle to do a 180. Talk about how we have the most cutting edge satellite tech in the world. How this will enable a new era for humanity.
Seattle needs to embrace its identity. We are building the future and should be proud of it 🌧️🗻🦾
If we’re going to solve our challenges we have to be honest about them. First, Silicon Valley has been one of the most expensive places to buy a home since before I was born. That’s why my family settled 50 miles away in a small farming town. And it hasn’t gotten better. Second, the Valley is partly a victim of its own success in the sense that this region has created so many high-paying jobs that people from all over the country and the world come here for opportunity. In fact, SV has been one of the very best regions in the country for economic mobility despite our high cost of living. Third, our brutally high housing costs are also—and I would argue primarily—a public policy failure. The incredible economy we have nurtured here has added roughly 8 jobs for every 1 new home we have built over the last couple of decades. That’s why as mayor I have worked so hard to simplify approval processes, expand zoning in urban villages and along transit corridors, reduce one-time fees and other requirements that, together, make it extremely slow and expensive to build housing here. I’m proud that last year we broke ground on thousands of new homes that had been approved years ago and stuck in the pipeline because they simply didn’t pencil. For California to improve affordability, we will need to make it much easier and less expensive to build housing, we will need to better connect our job centers and housing markets with great transit and transportation infrastructure, and bring down utility rates through smarter regulations and better technology.
@VijayInWA What’s your bet on the place that will be the Seattle of the future? If Austin is the new SF and Miami is the new NYC, where’s the hidden gem that might share some of Seattle characteristics from 30 years ago?
@DavidSacks@beaverd@Jason@nickshirleyy This is CCAP funding, not political donations. This type of post actually does harm to the cause of reform and rooting out fraud. Get real, accurate data and then make the case.