High-rise towers out of place

In re­sponse to the guest com­men­tar­y by form­er Se­at­tle May­or Norm Rice and Se­at­tle University President Ste­phen Sundborg [“Vi­sion for Yes­ler Ter­race mer­its coun­cil sup­port,” O­pin­ion, Aug. 2], I a­gree that the con­cept of mixed in­come and mixed use has mer­it.

How­ever, the mixed in­come and re­zon­ing of most of Yes­ler Ter­race from low-rise zon­ing to a mas­ter plan that would al­low 13 high-rise build­ings, some up to 300 feet, is carry­ing the mixed-use con­cept too far. Those towers will be to­tal­ly out of place.

From my neigh­bor­hood view­point park, I can see many ele­gant, tallof­ficebuild­ings down­town. And that iswhere theybe­long, not at Yes­ler Ter­race.

The oc­cu­pan­cy rate in many of those down­town of­fice build­ings is low. While there ap­pears to be no wait­ing list for down­town of­fice space, the wait­ing list for low-in­come hous­ing is for years and is grow­ing. The plan for re­place­ment of low-in­come hous­ing at Yes­ler Ter­race will pro­vide only a small part of the cur­rent need. We need more low-in­come hous­ing, not more tow­er­ing of­fice build­ings.

­­-- Leota Stan­ley, Se­at­tle