Here we go again.

This KIRO 7 News story kind of speaks for itself.

But this time 44 units of affordable housing are the focal point of neighborhood angst. This is yet another example of why we see a growing problem with overreach from neighbors who want to control every aspect of private development, even down to subtle color changes on the out side of the building. This is similar to another case of color panic at another project in Capitol Hill.

Will the Department of Planning and Development (DPD) make the non-profit agency bear the cost of taking down the colored panels? Time will tell. But once again neighborhood whims are potentially adding costs to housing. And in this case, it’s a non-profit agency, Community House Mental Health Agency. Here’s their mission:

We hold ourselves responsible as instruments of social change to the larger community for creating a society which not only tolerates, but understands and accepts people who have a severe and persistent behavioral health issues.

And here’s a neighborhood comment in the thread on the KIRO story:

I’d be more concerned with what’s inside the box than what’s outside.

This familiar pattern shows that neighbors who kick up a stink about colors probably more afraid of change and people that are different than themselves than they are about subtle changes in a color palette. It’s a sad trend for our city.