Revel Smith noticed this richly ironic convergence of themes a few blocks from her home near Pike Place Market and didn't rest until she got the perfect photo.
The pretentiously named Fifteen-Twenty-One — marketed to "the confident few" — is shown above rising into the sky while the slogan for the Seattle Art Museum's newest exhibit offers a lovely caption to the scene. The newly expanded SAM, along with Benaroya Hall and the picturesquely convenient Public Market form the core of the cultural amenities that, along with the upscale shopping and the stunning view of the Sound and the Olympic mountains, draw the uber-rich to Seattle's "Gold Coast."
Four new condo developments within this four block area will bring 505 new condos with an average value of $2.2 million each. Meanwhile the purge of visible poverty from Victor Steinbrueck Park and the downtown in general steamrolls along under the guise of compassion and "public safety." The playground is being cleared. The Empire is here, and for those with eyes to see, the conquest of the City is taking place right under our noses.
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8 comments:
I hope I didn't miss the circus.
Unless we're going to be the "attractions."
The conquest has been going on for 3-4 decades, so I think most people, if they see it at all, think it's natural and right and that there are no alternatives. In some ways, the stuff downtown is endgame. The only non-subsidized housing down there left to be saved are the vacant buildings in the ID.
Romans? Could mean numerals. I like the Letterman joke, how after the Pope said Mass at Yankee Stadium, they retired XVI. Maybe we can retire V. It's a stretch,... think buffalo head.
Reminds me of Mark Anthony's words about Caesar:
The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones.
" ... Evil is rendered more believable by putting it together with good to make it more respectable ... "
— Christine de Pisan
"Hypocrisy is the tribute that vice pays to virtue."
— François Duc de La Rochefoucauld
I'm thinking of opening a vomitorium in Belltown. The next protest could be toga's only!
Rick
www.seattlehomeless.blogspot.com
While downtown last night I noticed a sign on the other side of SAM that said, "The Romans are leaving," referring to the exhibit's leaving soon. But even knowing that I had a small moment of stupid hope.
A vomitorium would also be appropriate on the top floor of City Hall. Perhaps a throw-up-in instead of a sit-in.
Re attire for next protest, how about just regular-person clothes instead of all the resplendent ministerial gowns, etc. I doubt if the prophets wore that stuff when they were ragging the rulers, but somehow they were still heard.
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