Thursday, December 8, 2016

Letter: Why I plan on leaving Redmond

This comment was made under one of my posts:  

This (the loss of REI) is mostly why I plan on leaving Redmond, and Washington for that matter. I've been out here for 10 years, back in 2008 I was paying $1400 for a 2 bedroom 2 bath apartment with a nice size kitchen. That same apartment is now $3300 a month. With the loss of so many stores including REI from Redmond I don't understand why we must pay downtown Manhattan and San Francisco rent prices and not get the perks from living in those cities. What do I get for my $3300 a month? There are no major retailers left in Redmond, no 24hr or open late legitimate restaurants, no beach that's down the street. All I see going up in Redmond is more apartment buildings with $1600 rents for 400sq/ft studios. The loss of REI to Redmond I think was really the last straw for me. I'm a big Seahawks fan and was one of the things that kept me in Washington but I can't justify living in retail hell here in Redmond while paying astronomical rent that provides nothing besides 4 walls and a roof. Redmond needs to get its act together, once the apartment gold rush ends and people finally say no were not paying for this unless the city has something to offer us Redmond is going to be screwed because they simply wont have the space to build anything else. It will be all hotels and apartments, with crappy stores nobody wants.

-- anonymous 

Editor's Note:  According to "Rent Jungle.com" the average rent in Redmond is $2,047 for one and two bedroom apartments. 

11 comments:

  1. Sad, but agreed. I lived in Redmond from birth through age 21; and still visited often until mom sold the house and moved to assisted living in Bothell a couple of years ago. It was difficult to watch the peaceful town of my childhood succumb to high-rise apartments and horrendous traffic.

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  2. We made our exodus this summer. The 55+ community we lived in raised their rent every year and offered no perks and gave us grief at every turn.

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  3. We were dining at the Redmond Tony Roma's, (yes, the one no longer there!". The manager informed us they were closing due to increased business taxes and moving to much more business friendly Lynnwood was their only option. Nice going city leaders!

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  4. Really good points on the very high price to urban amenity ratio. Redmond feels like an upscale bedroom community to me. I've been here 2 years and I'm looking forward to paying a comparable rate in something in a more urban environment next year.

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  5. We too have been terribly saddened by the gutting of the once quaint downtown. I like progress, but there was no middle ground. It was a fast rate of demolish and destroy. I know there are many local cities that are experiencing growth but nothing like what Redmond did. We too just left after 20 years. I guess Redmond got what they wanted.. out withthe old and in with the new. Including lifelong residents.

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  6. I have lived on the Eastside for years, what they did to Redmond and are going to do to Totem Lake is disgusting, they put in these little stores that no one really wants to shop at anyhow and all these apartments that just cause more traffic issues. I just retired and I am out of this area in the spring of 2017 and doubt I will ever be back!

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  7. I disagree. As a life long Redmond resident there is a lot of great shops left to visit. I agree the loss of REI and Macy's is great, but there is more to Redmond than that

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  8. I moved to Redmond in 1995 and bought a house here in 1998. I agree with most of the other comments here. Downtown is turning into Generica, just like most other suburban cities - there is no 'Redmond' left when you raise commercial rents so high that it forces all of the independently-run businesses out, and long-time local businesses that actually owned their buildings were FORCED to move by none other than the city itself, in order to build a park that nobody was asking for, but is a gift to the developers of the big apartment buildings where there is no open space.

    If you wonder why this is all happening, it actually stems from United Nations Agenda 21 urban planning, which dictates high-density residential (with ground-floor retail, of course) along light-rail corridors. This is why our mayor so ardently supports Sound Transit - it is all part of the master plan.

    And regrettably, nobody seems to realize that our local economic engine could significantly shrink in short order - tech jobs can disappear overnight, either because they cease to exist, or because they get moved to other places. There is no factory to close and no machinery to relocate. Things seems rosy now, but if we have a major economic downturn or another tech bubble crash, this area will be hurting very badly, and the wonderful buildings downtown will be the Section 8 housing of the future.

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  9. I was born in Juanita and have lived and worked in Redmond for 2/3 of my life. When I moved back 3 years ago, I was so freaking excited to be back in Redmond. I loved Redmond. Now it seems they are tearing everything up and making it terrible. Driving out long time businesses and getting rid of the greenery to put in high rise apartments that are going to make traffic on Avondale even more of a nightmare. Moving to Olympia in March and am only a tiny bit sad to leave the town I know like the back of my hand.
    We have Costco now. Woo. People couldn't drive the 10 minutes either way to Woodinville or Kirkland?
    Rent is insane, the first guy couldn't have said it better.

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  10. Basic economics: Increased supply causes prices to decrease.

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  11. I've lived in Redmond for 29 years now, save short stints in Bellingham and San Francisco. As much as I agree with you, the "perks" of living in San Francisco are non-existent. It is a vile, broken, dying city, but that is another matter.

    I love my city, but there have been many troubling changes, probably kicked off by the lifting of the two story ban in downtown. It is understandable to allow the city grow, but the addition of new culture without assimilation has led to a divided community. People don't interact the way they did when both the town and I were younger. There's a sense many residents are just passing through; a mentality of "I'm not going to be here long, so why should I be courteous?" I can quickly tell who has been here awhile, and who intends to stay, from those who chose/were assigned to live here because of its proximity to their place of employment.

    It's up to us as residents and lovers of this charming, little, but rapidly growing city, to push for both legislative and community efforts that improve the atmosphere and preserve the essence of what we all remember. Just leaving the area means we don't get to have your positivity, and ultimately becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy in its decline, leaving yet another soulless metro...like Lake City.

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