Boom times

Last Sunday we actually left the house to brave the neighborhood traffic. We drove 8 blocks to have lunch near The Junction, the "hub" of West Seattle. This trip took much longer than you might imagine.

Afterwards we walked through the weekly farmer's market.  It's not the type of market our parents remember, with bargain prices for bulk seasonal produce.

Rainier cherries were $6 a pound ($3.99 on special at QFC  this week.)  Of course at the grocery store, you don't have elbowing crowds, unmannerly dogs and all that outdoor, chatty meet-the-supplier experience that people like at farmer's markets.

 I know, I know...this looks like fun.  Sorry to sound so cynical.

A block of California Ave. is closed off to traffic now for the weekly market.  There are dozens of "stalls" and I expect it will only get bigger.

Here's a photo of the West Seattle market I took back in January 2010.  A few organic winter vegetables for sale on a rainy Sunday afternoon. Kind of pathetic, but sweet. For years the market was set up in a parking lot behind the bank at the Junction. No parking issues, no traffic detours. And now that seems like such a long time ago.

For longtime residents, the overnight changes to our quiet community are pretty overwhelming. Seattle is in the middle of $50 billion construction boom that is having profound impacts on old neighborhoods.  Within a few blocks of our house, there are at least 10 large residential construction projects in progress.

Do you remember this  "Hole Foods" construction hole?  All through the recession, it was an abandoned construction site and a local joke.

And now it looks like this.  An eight story apartment building with a health club.  And this is just one of thousands all over Seattle and the suburbs.  Most look pretty much the same- big blocks of expensive apartments and condo units without garages or parking spaces for residents.  That's because we all take the bus or ride bikes in Seattle. (ha ha)

But there's a bright side.  We have a Trader Joe's!  And Whole Foods will open on the ground level of yet another giant residential complex, right across from L.A. Fitness.
Oh boy. I think.