I’ve already written about Councilmember Sally Bagshaw’s self serving efforts to squash more housing construction downtown with a tower spacing scheme. Now Seattle Magazine has an article about the fight brewing downtown about allowing more height and lot coverage. The problem with Bagshaw’s efforts, along from being a weird conflict of interest and possibly limiting housing downtown, is that it’s one of the first efforts to unravel the Mayor’s Grand Bargain on housing. The Bargain is supposed to be all about upzones in exchange for rent restrictions. But how’s that going to happen if Bagshaw gets her way. But she’s just going after downtown, right? Nope.

“It’s not just downtown, and it’s not just high-rises,” says Bagshaw. The city is “really trying to push more towers and more housing near the light rail, for example. If we’re putting in mid-height buildings that are just on top of each other, lot line to lot line, you lose some real charm in the city. It’s so critical for there to be room to breathe.” 

So, as we frequently do, we have yet another Councilmember who can’t make good policy because she is trying to make a narrow, angry, and entitled group of her constituents happy. The right answer to people worried about their views is what one of my coaches in elementary schools used to say: “That’s life in the big city!” Get over it Escala millionaires! There are lots of other people that want to share the great beauty and opportunity here in Seattle. Not only that, we made a Bargain to create more housing for those people.

I don’t expect Councilmembers to show that kind of backbone anytime soon, but we’ll see. But Councilmember Bagshaw’s comments cast even more doubt about whether the Grand Bargain can survive yet even more compromising with neighbors who are likely to oppose the upzones that the Bargain requires.