On August 14, returning to Tacoma after several days up north, at Birch Bay, Ruby directed us off I-5 to downtown Seattle, seeking burgers and pizza, which I earlier blogged about in Seattle Dick's Deluxe With Good Pay & Benefits & Long Lines.
When we exited I-5 I expected to soon be seeing the multi-billion dollar Amazon campus under construction, because ever since that construction began I have read it referred to as being the South Lake Union location of said campus. This long confused me because the area I thought of as South Lake Union had long been developed. And I knew there was no way eminent domain was being abused in Seattle to take existing property in order to build a corporate campus, which is what I have seen happen in corrupt towns in Texas, such as Fort Worth and Arlington, to build things like the Radio Shack corporate headquarters in downtown Fort Worth (quickly to go into failure mode in yet one more embarrassing Fort Worth boondoggle) and the Dallas Cowboy Stadium in Arlington.
So, after we left Dick's, Ruby directed our driver to the actual location of Amazon's headquarters. I had mentioned I would like to see the Amazon Spheres. The actual Amazon location turned out to be closer to Seattle's downtown core than South Lake Union.
To get to Amazon Ruby directed us south under the Seattle Monorail, south towards the aforementioned Seattle downtown core, and Westlake Center. Before we reached Westlake Center Ruby had the driver turn left, the left again, heading back north towards South Lake Union, with the Amazon Spheres soon appearing.
Ruby directed the driver to pull over and let she and me out of the vehicle to get a closer look at the Amazon Spheres and part of the Amazon corporate campus, under construction. Which explains why you see Ruby, above and below, in front of the Amazon Spheres.
Everywhere you look in Seattle, currently, you see construction cranes. I do not know if the two towers behind Ruby are part of the Amazon campus, or are new residential towers. Residential towers are sprouting up all over the downtown Seattle zone.
Eminent domain was not abused in Seattle to enable Amazon to build its corporate headquarters. But an old motel, I think maybe a Travelodge, but I am not sure, had been used by the city as a housing place for homeless people. Amazon needed that property, bought it, and then, instead of heartlessly booting the homeless, opted to use multiple floors of one of Amazon's new towers as a homeless shelter, providing services and help getting out of that homeless situation.
The homeless situation was the worst thing I saw when seeing Seattle in its current boomtown mode. Homeless encampments are shockingly visible, as one drives I-5 though downtown Seattle. One gets a good look at the homeless encampments when traffic on I-5 is in traffic jam mode, which is frequently the case.
The next time Ruby takes me to downtown Seattle I hope she is able to take me inside the Amazon Spheres...
In the news this morning - Amazon is looking for another city to put a headquarters in. No word on whether Fort Worth is a leading candidate or not. The Seattle news wondered if that place might eventually replace the place you posted about; noting that Boeing moved THEIR headquarters to Chicago. Perhaps Amazon will move into the Fort Worth Santa Fe Market or the Will Rogers locales. My vote would be for them to pick Panther Island. Hmm, I think Fort Worth is a long shot compared to, say, Arlington (Texas).
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