Now the nation?s biggest company town, Seattle has been changed by the retail and tech giant For Seattleites sick of seeing their livable, laid-back city transformed by the tech industry, the chorus of complaints is growing. Newly minted millionaires are building luxury homes around the expensive corners of Puget Sound. Traffic is becoming a nightmare.
And a predicted population boom will create a severe shortage of affordable housing. The city seems headed toward being a place where only the wealthy can afford to own homes.
Yes, the urban sprawl of the Seattle area in the mid-?90s?caused in large part by the then-growing workforces at Microsoft and Boeing, as highlighted in this 1996 New York Times article?were rough. And it followed a boom in the ?80s, when the region?s population rose 22 percent and the number of miles driven by cars quadrupled. Seattle, home-base to six companies in the Fortune 500, is no stranger to big corporations and big growth. Which makes Amazon?s incredible flourishing, and its sizable office space footprint, that much more impressive.
The retail and technology giant will be in the spotlight for the foreseeable future, as the decision around HQ2?the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington, Virginia, and Long Island City in Queens, New York, will reportedly split the prize?is finalized. This once-in-a-generation opportunity for a regional economy led to cities throwing themselves, and tax breaks, at the Seattle company.
But despite taki...