Letter to the Editor: Station rezones - another view
Monday, October 3, 2016
To the Editor:
Shoreline Preservation is proud that we and our supporters saved so many homes surrounding the parks. But saddened that so many others in our neighborhoods are now going to be faced with bulldozers, displacement and disruption by the Radical Rezones.
We feel the council finally did the right thing leaving most of the sensitive areas and wetland/steep slope buffers protected with existing R-6 zoning. We worked hard for two years to achieve that much. But, rational people might ask, why were those areas EVER on the table? It was cynical of the City to propose high density there.
We feel Council still went way overboard with the Rezone, and many of the areas they touched will be redeveloped in a piecemeal way. And it is so unnecessary, so destructive to thousands of lives in both Rezone areas. So many perfectly decent, affordable homes, trees and neighborhoods will be irreparably destroyed. And, most of those residents displaced will not be moving into tiny apartments by the freeway. They will likely move far outside the city, contributing to more sprawl. So many lives disrupted, just to raise revenue? Or just meet some policy goal?
And they passed the Planned Action Ordinance, another abomination that will leave citizens in these areas with even fewer options.
And climate change? The massive number of trees lost, the houses torn down and sent to landfill will contribute to climate change. Methane is what is created by construction debris, the most potent greenhouse gas.
There is still much to be done to actually protect the critical areas in our city. Funding must be found to permanently protect those buffers.
Shoreline can do better if it truly cares about its citizens rather than throw thousands under the bus!
Shoreline Preservation Society is reviewing the results and considering our future actions.
Janet Way
Shoreline
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4 comments:
Thank you, Janet Way and S.P.S.! You've restored my faith in humanity and their ability to attack a problem with critical thinking, risk assessment, and environmental science that doesn't cherry pick statistics and data to serve the purpose of making the wealthy wealthier. So impressed with this community group's ability to discuss strong opinions without packing up their toys and going home. Even more impressed with the diversity of political views who have found a way to come together to work toward protecting their community, without letting our differences divide us. It's "neighborhood association 2.0"... not bound by neighborhood borders or under the supervision of the city and their narrative. Looking forward to watching this group grow as new people move to Shoreline and what this group can accomplish in the future.
This editorial is right on the mark. The city is overeager to rezone too much and at too high a cost for the inhabitants of those neighborhoods. Will they even be called neighborhoods after all this?
I take issue with this statement - "And climate change? The massive number of trees lost, the houses torn down and sent to landfill will contribute to climate change. Methane is what is created by construction debris, the most potent greenhouse gas."
You could say almost *everything* contributes to climate change one way or the other, but the question is of how much will an action contribute to it. In this case, the tiny amount of methane gas to theoretically deal with the debris from the construction is probably very miniscule compared to all of the pollution if we continue to overly rely on cars for getting around for everything. Density is going to be important for our growing region so that folks will have to rely on cars less.
When it comes to climate change, we as a society need to adapt and I believe a part of this development is a part of the necessary adaptation as well as a response to a very swiftly growing region.
Editor's note: Just want to point out that this is a letter to the editor from a private citizen - not an editorial from the Shoreline Area News.
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