Last week the Capitol Hill Seattle (CHS) blog  produced a non-sequitur with a post called, “So you want to save the Royvue?” First of all, the Roy Vue doesn’t need saving. It’s not going anywhere. A proposal is in the works to convert the 90 year old Capitol Hill building from 34 larger units to as many as 100 smaller units. That means the Roy Vue will carry on in all its glory but it will just have room for more people. Our city is growing remember? But emblematic of the narrative static of the City’s efforts to impose the disasterous Mandatory Inclusionary Zoning (MIZ) policy, CHS tries to poach the anxiety of a few dozen neighbors to the benefit of MIZ.

In the post CHS suggests that people worried about changes at the Roy Vue show up at a hearing to cheer lead the MIZ proposal — a tax on the production of all new housing to generate a few subsidized units years from now at the expense of boosting all housing prices to pay the tax — because

But if you really want to push back on an economic market where it makes more sense to convert a well-maintained, popular Capitol Hill apartment building into space for small efficiency dwelling units, you’ll probably want to have something positive to say about making more room for the thousands of people who want and need to move to Seattle. They are coming whether you like it or not.

Huh? First of all, the MIZ scheme is going to make the market worse. The cheer leaders of the proposal and the City acknowledge the upzones granted as part of the proposal are modest, and we know the fees will increase costs that will get passed on to renters. We also know it will only produce a few hundred units a year — maybe — of very expensive subsidized housing. It’s a horrible housing policy and anyone concerned about the current market should be dead set against it; it will make life worse for far more people than it could ever help.

And making room for more people is what the Roy Vue proposal is all about. The building isn’t being gutted, it’s going to be renewed and given another 100 years of life, except in it’s next century it will house far more people, something progressive housing advocates should applaud. And in the comments, people seem to get this notion.

Architectural significance, sure, but the structure is essentially a stack of blocks of rock glued together. Pretty, but quaint. Isn’t it possible that humans might find more economical ways to build a dwelling, and tbat those new types might come to be considered of architectural significance as well?

. . . and . . .

More housing! Keep the Roy facade, and add more units. This keeps the Hill’s street character and houses more people. The best of both issues. I honestly don’t understand why a few select tenants should keep 4-5room apartments simply because . . i actually don’t even know the reason.

So if anything take every opportunity to oppose the MIZ disaster and support renewals and expansion of housing opportunity represented by what’s going to happen at the Roy Vue. More housing opportunity is the welcoming policy we need, not taxing and protesting more supply.