People with money push everyone with less money out. Not sure who is more entitled, the new folks, or the people raising prices. Here, it is typical to expect a 20%+ increase in rent every time you sign a lease.
I have a waggish sense of humor.
@Misadventure said in RL Anger:
People with money push everyone with less money out.
Pretty much on the nose. It's happening to where I used to live in upstate SC, too.
Was renting a 3 bedroom house for $600/mo, had great local restaurants... Now it's these shitty $1500/mo studio apartments, chain restaurants, etc. all going up in the area.
@Misadventure Well, here in Philly the new residents have a tendency to mock and make fun of entire communities of native residents who express that they are sick of this shit.
Thankfully a lot of the out of towners in West Philly tend to try to work with the residents and even get involved in activism and stuff. But in most other parts of Philly where this is happening, it's just a goddamned mess of entitlement and just treating the natives like trash. I have trouble even being able to stomach talking to these people a lot of the time. Like when I see someone wearing clothes specifically to look both homeless and trendy that are clearly hundreds of dollars, when we have a city full of actual homeless people that they ignore.
Even corporations are gentrifying our goddamned native rich, like, goddamn. We have these two buildings, they are the iconic buildings of our skyline. There was a gentleman's agreement for freaking decades that no one should build anything higher than them. Comcast was just like, "fuck that", and built their eyesore of a building that was intentionally made in the shape of a USB plug.
Fuck Comcast.
@HelloProject said in RL Anger:
@Ataru So what you're saying is that Seattle is how I feel about all these goddamned gentrifying hipsters who are ruining my city and acting like they're entitled to push us out because they have money.
Yeah pretty much ... but it has less to do with who has money or hipstery stuff or race or anything ... it just has to do with native Seattlites having an elite attitude about being native Seattlites. Its a very closed community and they are relatively outnumbered by people who have moved there over the last few decades. I'm not saying they're necessarily snobbish ... its more just a latent resentment.
And here in Irvine, its The Company by which I meant The Irvine Company, that owns almost all rental properties, so even though there are ten openings in a building, they will decide its time to raise rent, and it will apply all across the area. Median income is $100k, and those folks are scrambling for affordable housing.
Yep. Richer displaces poorer, and they act like fucking Louis & Clark doing it.
@Ataru — As someone born and raised here, rose-colored glasses are a reality, you're not wrong... but our housing costs and traffic were sure as hell a lot saner before Seattle became "cool". We've expanded without any sort of sane urban planning, and it's hurting the region badly. 
(What drives me insane are the other native Seattle folks who have this whole desire to cling to those rose-colored ideals of the past, and who don't like the change we need for a city this large. "I don't want light rail where I can see it from my house!" "I don't want apartment buildings in my neighborhood!" And so on.)
a.k.a. Packetdancer (or "Pax" for short)
(What drives me insane are the other native Seattle folks who have this whole desire to cling to those rose-colored ideals of the past, and who don't like the change we need for a city this large. "I don't want light rail where I can see it from my house!" "I don't want apartment buildings in my neighborhood!" And so on.)
Man, light rail is about the only good transportation decision the Phoenix-Metro has made. Yeah, construction fucks up the streets for awhile, but once it's done it's great. I'm never moving off the line.
I thought it was all the high paid tech company employees ruining Seattle?
I can't tell if I should move there. I don't need friends, but I don't tolerate bullshit either.
I have a waggish sense of humor.
@Misadventure It is a great city. I loved growing up there and worked at Seattle Opera for awhile. But I'll say what I've always said to people ... either know someone there ahead of time or expect to work at making friends. Granted there are so many people there who are people who have moved there, its probably rather different now than it was back in the 90s. Sparks might be able to help with how it is now.
@Misadventure It is a great city. I loved growing up there and worked at Seattle Opera for awhile. But I'll say what I've always said to people ... either know someone there ahead of time or expect to work at making friends. Granted there are so many people there who are people who have moved there, its probably rather different now than it was back in the 90s. Sparks might be able to help with how it is now.
I think there's still some aspect of the Seattle 'chill', where folks are sometimes viewed as chilly/standoffish because they prefer a small number of really deep friendships over trying to make a more shallow connection to every single person. The way I tend to put it is that it takes forever to befriend a native Seattlite, culturally, but when you do we'll tend to help you bury the bodies.
But yeah, the culture has shifted a lot, and there's enough recent emigres that many don't really have that same trouble finding a social circle, I don't think.
My wife would suffer more from the chill than I would. She does well when she has people to share her care giving experiences with, and peeps to do music and dancing with.
I grew up way north, and I don't get why northern cities don't really value friendly and gregarious folks (and dismiss them as shallow). I'm much happier in the southwest; friendliness and conversation aren't devalued (imo) here just because they're shared freely.
Most of my friends are transplants from other Pacific Northwest states (OR/ID), Mormons, or are ex-pats from another country. It's why I cook great non-westernized Indian food now! :). And I am learning a lot of Somali and Persian cooking styles now too. Also helps that I have four Seattle born and raised kids, which once you see the same families day in/day out for 10 years in the PTA/school district makes it easier.
Really there are enough transplants and friendly people it's not as difficult as it was in the late 90s when I moved out here. At least if you're white or can pass. I am not kidding about the uptick in both subtle and overt crass racism that I've seen, with false resentments at the root cause of it. 
I am not kidding about the uptick in both subtle and overt crass racism that I've seen, with false resentments at the root cause of it.
Not that I'm planning on moving anywhere but I'm curious; does that apply to homophobia as well?
Austin > Seattle
@Admiral said in RL Anger:
Austin > Seattle
In rental prices, native irritation at newbies, the chill factor, in racism, or homophobia?
Yes and no. Depends greatly where you are in the metro area. Trans and gay people get violently attacked on a regular basis. I recently got into a shouting match (with the guy trying to grab my arm and he threw one of his pens at me) with a bigoted signature gatherer outside the grocery store for our state's very own bathroom bill. My eldest kid has faced verbal, physical, and sexual harassment (to the point we will pay $500 so that they can take the one year of required PE credit as private independent study, it is not emotionally or physically safe for them to be in the locker room).
Yet there is a lot of safety as well, and support in the community.
Keep in mind like most sparsely populated blue collar/rural poor and big boom cities states, while Seattle metro area overrules the rest of the state in national elections, the state is actually very purple (as evidenced by our deadlocked narrow margin state legislature). There is a Bible Belt here sort of just not in the urban areas--but with all the out of state influx comes a change in that as well. I live within a 10 minute drive of about 4 mega churches.
@HelloProject said in RL Anger:
... maybe they're the fucking problem with this country as much as any goddamned backwards
redneck.
Hey watch that! Only my people can use that word.
@HelloProject said in RL Anger:
... maybe they're the fucking problem with this country as much as any goddamned backwards
redneck.Hey watch that! Only my people can use that word.
Holy shit, thirteen channels of wrestling? Maybe I need to get in on this business.
@Misadventure said in RL Anger:
People with money push everyone with less money out.
Pretty much on the nose. It's happening to where I used to live in upstate SC, too.
Was renting a 3 bedroom house for $600/mo, had great local restaurants... Now it's these shitty $1500/mo studio apartments, chain restaurants, etc. all going up in the area.
