So you think condos sitting vacant while Chinese investors wait for them to become more valuable in an area with a huge housing insecurity issue is a good thing....? That is happening in Seattle like it is in Vancouver BC.

The wealthy in Seattle are wealthier, that's for sure, and there are more wealthy people here than there were before. But the reason that Seattle is an incredible city isn't because of wealthy people living in high rise condos--it's because of small businesses and artists and neighborhoods that all have separate, specific vibes that have been cultivated over decades. I've watched countless friends be priced out of the city, forced to move into thin-walled apartments in the suburbs, so that the historical old buildings they lived in before can be knocked down to make room for over-priced "apodments". I've watched the culture of my city go through subtle shifts as Targets and Chipotles replace bodegas and mom 'n' pop Teriyaki joints. I've watched bars and venues and coffee shops I love be torn down to be replaced with soulless, glass-and-metal buildings.

I don't really care that our economy is better. It's not like we were an impoverished wasteland before all of this--Seattle was a prosperous enough city before all of this. It was always a happy place to be. The things I love about this city are slowly fading so that the elite can become more elite at the expense of the people at the bottom of the ladder, the ones who made Seattle a place that people want to live. I think it's pretty reasonable for me to be upset about that.