Seattle is one of my favorite places in the world. I lived there for over five years off and on, and I would go
back tomorrow without a fuss. I left about six years ago, and since then the city has undergone vast changes, with new
museums, sprawling new developments in places like Ballard that were once sleepy fishing and industrial neighborhoods.
Paul Allen has had a big rile in this, and there was even a big article about him recently in the Times.
But it turns out that even bigger changes are afoot. According to this piece at CNN, there
is a massive plan to build a new artistic park along the waterfront. I couldn’t be happier. Give me parks over
skyscrapers and other industrial development ANY day. I mean, thank God that people had the foresight to build Central
Park in new York. The city without Central park would be 40 percent less than it is today. Anyway, the new development
is called the Olympic Sculpture Park and was designed to highlight the natural setting on the shores of Seattle’s
waterfront. The cost of the new park will be $85 million, some of which will also be used to clean up an area that was
contaminated from Seattle grittier past. What a great idea for a great city. Almost makes me want to plan a move back
before real estate prices get even worse there…if that’s possible.