when i first camr here in 2006 I was excited and thought it would be pretty cool...key word is "was" i came in on the very exclamation point marking the end of all the things that made seattle great to live in....unfortunitly it's nearly dead the reason? gentrification. now i know it's a scap goat but here me out when the cost of liveing was low it was easy to live off of a simple baresta or other working through collige, or art degree jobs it was also cheaper to open and run a busness unfortunitly the burgaining bohemian scene attracted many "professionals"...now a few can enrich the community...unfortunitly the influx was so massive that not only did rents skyrocket but the job markit became insanely competitive...my cousen who was working her way through collige lost her job to a guy with a masters in economics....drugs and rowdy revelers had been prevalent....but crime wise it didnt seem so bad...all of a sudden night clubs were shutting down and for some reason a whole bunch of aggressive crack heads seemned to show up to prey on the fat wallets as opposed to the realitivly docile (but still dangerous) junkies and casual weed dealers...a wave of homophobic attacks have hit the formaly gay mecca, less and less people are going out makeing the junkies who formaly made more income from panhandeling then robbing..have started to become more aggressive in short it's not worth the cost to live in the ruins of former bohemian central...no this just applys to cap ill...u district and george town are still kicking because ofaffordable houseing (though commutes are a pain in the ass because many small busness cant afford to pay rents and have shut down while I may have misdiagnosed the cause I've seen the same effect in many of the places I've lived (my job has me moveing around alot).....there can be good things about injecting of increasingly popular neaborhood with proffesionals and upper income...but there has to be a way to set aside space for the atists that made the place so popular to begin with
linus | Seattle, WA | Report Abuse