2008-2018: Seattle’s Transformative Decade

Seattle TImes | Jon Talton | January 4

https://www.seattletimes.com/pacific-nw-magazine/2008-2018-seattles-transformative-decade/

“Between 2008 and 2017, Seattle added more than 100,000 people…The past decade also saw Seattle and the Puget Sound region solidify its place as one of the most economically potent spots in North America, with headquarters of two of the five Big Tech giants and a varied set of other assets. A diverse world city facing Asia for the Asian Century…With scores of new skyscrapers, becoming the crane capital of America, and bringing light rail on line, it was as if a curtain had been pulled back to reveal an entirely new city.”

The Rapid Rise of New Seattle: Time-Lapse Video Shot Over 3 Years Captures City’s Massive Growth

GeekWire | Kurt Schlosser | January 4

https://www.geekwire.com/2018/rapid-rise-new-seattle-time-lapse-video-shot-3-years-captures-citys-massive-growth/

“Here’s the 4-minute video you’ve been waiting for to illustrate why a 4-mile drive in Seattle takes 45 minutes. Ricardo Martin Brualla, a VR/AR engineer at Google in Seattle, and a former PhD student at the University of Washington, has pieced together a 3-year time-lapse video with footage shot from a 360-degree webcam mounted on the top of the Space Needle. With old buildings going down and new ones coming up, the video is an almost cartoonish representation of the massive growth taking place in Seattle, and particularly around the urban core and South Lake Union neighborhood where giant tech companies such as Amazon, Facebook and Google have set up shop. In a post on Medium, Brualla — who has been in Seattle for seven years — describes some of the details that are captured in the video and he explains how he pulled if off technically.”

Changing Seattle: Developers Aiming for Higher Density

Seattle PI | Stephen Cohen | January 4

http://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/Changing-Seattle-Developers-aiming-for-higher-12474514.php

“We need to fit more people into Seattle. Even a cursory glance at building projects in planning stages throughout the city makes it obvious that developers are simply looking for ways to make room. The projects under review this month by Seattle’s Design Review Board are good examples of how developers are trying to do just that…The design review process allows city planners, residents and volunteers to give their opinions on any proposal for multi-family or commercial buildings in the city in order to ensure that designs fit with the surrounding neighborhoods.”

As Seattle’s Bike-Sharing Pilot Concludes, Here’s What 2018 Has in Store for the Neon Newcomers

GeekWire | Monica Nickelsburg | December 29

https://www.geekwire.com/2017/seattles-bike-sharing-pilot-concludes-heres-2018-store-neon-newcomers/

“Seattle’s novel bike-sharing pilot is crossing the finish line as 2017 comes to a close. With the training wheels off, Seattle’s now-ubiquitous neon bicycle fleets will continue operating on city streets and expand. The Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) launched the program in May, creating a special permit that private companies could obtain to use Seattle streets for bike sharing. By July, bright orange Spin bikes and neon green LimeBikes hit the streets. The pilot allowed each company to roll out its fleet slowly, starting with 500 bikes apiece. As of mid-December, each company had 3,000 bicycles in Seattle.”