The following are comments offered ahead of passage of low-rise legislation by the Seattle City Council on Monday. Sara Maxana is a Ballard resident who has worked in the field of sustainability in Seattle and the region for the last decade. She currently is a planner at the Puget Sound Regional Council. 

Hello. My name is Sara Maxana.

I have been a resident and homeowner in Northwest Seattle for ten years.

I currently own a house in Ballard, where I live with my two school-aged children.

I want to express to you how much I love the changes I have seen in my community in the last ten years.

I love that I can walk to new restaurants and breweries and shops.

I love that the sidewalks and the parks are full of people and activity.

I love that Prop 1 increased bus service to three routes that I take, that the Move Seattle Levy includes improvements to the Ballard Bridge that I bike across, and that ST3 may bring light rail to Ballard.

I love that my home has increased in value.

I attribute much of what I love about my neighborhood to all its recent growth.

And what I love most about that growth is that every new unit I see constructed in Ballard makes more likely that my children will be able to afford to live in their community when they grow up.

We cannot hope to have an affordable city unless our housing supply keeps up with demand.

So when you are considering changes to the Low Rise zones, I ask that you please don’t think about me. I already own a house in this expensive city. I am benefiting from growth. I am dripping with privilege.

Please, think about the people who don’t own houses here. Think about my kids. Think about all of our kids. Think about the over 50% of Seattle’s residents that rent, who might wish to buy someday, or who, at the very least, become further squeezed when diminishing supply leads to rent increases.

Please do not amend the Low Rise zones in ways that impede housing production. It will not make this city more livable; it will only make it more expensive.

Thank you for this opportunity to speak.