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| Cleveland Street & 161 Ave. |
How Did the City Let This Happen?
"Crazy Canyon"
FB Comments:
"Giving professional urban planners free rein? My guess is that such ugly monotony would not occur in a free market, but only when an elite believes it knows better than everyone and imposes its will -- and people aren't paying attention and let it happen. Unfortunately those who believe in freedom don't have much power right now." -- Kirkland City Council MemberToby Nixon
"You said it well. In addition density does not need to mean ugly buildings."
Former King County Councilmember Kathy Lambert
Opinion & Photo by Bob Yoder, 12/1/2022
So true. Though we did try fighting a development once only to have the city basically say it is nice that you feel that way but too bad.
ReplyDeletePlain and simple…apathy! And people feel they don’t have a voice anymore, so why bother. But nothing could be further from the truth! I used to live in Kirkland, and when big developments were happening, hundreds of people would come out to planning commission meetings, design review board meetings, city Council meetings to voice their concerns and opinions. This is why in downtown Kirkland you see a lot of step backs and public spaces that are traded for height. I don’t see that happening in Redmond and the city is just building big, square, dense buildings that are ugly, block views, create canyons, starve sunlight at street level, etc. and to what end? Yes we have higher density to support downtown businesses, yes we are taking our fair share of growth and then some, and perhaps for putting a small dent in affordable housing, but these are poorly built apartments that are meant to age quickly and will be nothing but ugliness in the future. Very sad
ReplyDeleteCramming all these tall buildings into such a small space...Redmond is becoming one of the ugliest cities on the Eastside. And now with the addition of the train construction and loss of trees everywhere, it is indeed a sad sight.
ReplyDelete