LTU stalwart Susan Hernandez did a terrific job talking to KIRO TV for this story that aired yesterday. The story is a mixed bag. We are certainly grateful for the coverage, but it's frustrating how essentially the same story keeps getting reported by the media: Rents are rising, the neighborhood is changing, tenants are unhappy. In fact KIRO itself did basically the same story on Lockhaven just a few months ago.
It would be great if the local media would remember what it's already reported, and not continue to cover this as an isolated, one-off story. Instead, we need a deeper look at what's happening to our city, and how we are allowing Seattle to be re-made to allow developers to suck as many dollars out of their properties as possible.
One thing unique to this latest KIRO story is that George Petrie agreed to be recorded, which as far as I know has not happened before, and shows how Goodman Real Estate is feeling the heat. However, Petrie is allowed to make the extraordinary claim that only "only about one third of residents will be truly unable to pay the new rents" without being challenged. Wow, OK. News to us. Where does this number come from? Also, the rent increase at Lockhaven is said to be 50 percent, which is wrong. I personally was given a figure that was 100 percent higher than my previous rent.
It was nice to see our ally Nick Licata on camera, though his remarks were edited to the point of banality. He's basically allowed to say that rents are higher and people don't like that. We're sure he must have had more trenchant comments that did not make it into the broadcast.
Overall though, we'll take it! All press is good press. And we hope KIRO will keep an eye on coming developments. We are not passive victims. We and our growing contingent of allies are not even close to being done fighting for our dignity.
No comments:
Post a Comment