Is Seattle losing its soul? Whaddya think Knute?

Leslie Holleran Jul 3, 2025

Jan 12, 2018

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                <h1>Is Seattle losing its soul? Whaddya think Knute?</h1>
                <h2><p>This is the underlying question in a Thursday story in the New York Times. As well paying jobs at Amazon and Microsoft haunt the artists of Capitol Hill, will Seattle ever be the same? Times reporter Nick Wingfield credits policies adopted under Mayor Ed Murray, including the city’s $15</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/leslie-holleran-crosscut-com/">Leslie Holleran</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Jan 12, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>This is the underlying question in <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/09/technology/seattle-in-midst-of-tech-boom-tries-to-keep-its-soul.html?_r=0&ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">a Thursday story</a> in the New York Times. As well paying jobs at Amazon and Microsoft haunt the artists of Capitol Hill, will Seattle ever be the same? Times reporter Nick Wingfield credits policies adopted under Mayor Ed Murray, including the city’s $15 minimum wage and an affordable housing plan, for staving off the specter of the $3,500 one-bedroom in San Francisco. For now.</p><p>Crosscut’s own Knute Berger, “a longtime chronicler of life in Seattle,” is quoted.“Seattle has wanted to be San Francisco for so long,” he told Wingate. “Now it’s figuring out maybe that it isn’t what we want to be.”</p>
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This is the underlying question in a Thursday story in the New York Times. As well paying jobs at Amazon and Microsoft haunt the artists of Capitol Hill, will Seattle ever be the same? Times reporter Nick Wingfield credits policies adopted under Mayor Ed Murray, including the city’s $15 minimum wage and an affordable housing plan, for staving off the specter of the $3,500 one-bedroom in San Francisco. For now.

Crosscut’s own Knute Berger, “a longtime chronicler of life in Seattle,” is quoted.“Seattle has wanted to be San Francisco for so long,” he told Wingate. “Now it’s figuring out maybe that it isn’t what we want to be.”

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By Leslie Holleran

Leslie Holleran regularly writes about arts and culture for print and online publications. Her work has appeared in national dance publications and in Seattle newspapers and magazines.