Holding out!
 

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/dayart...acefield_4.jpg
Little old lady held out till the end. Just amazing people can hold out even under these conditions! Kudos to the lady and everyone in support!

She's in my neighborhood... Her house is about a five minute drive from our home. It wasn't about the money--"a million dollars"--but about the fact that she *had* what she wanted, her home. And no amount of money could provide what she wanted but didn't yet have, the chance to die in the same home where her mother died. She did get that, eventually.

In a refreshing show of humanity, the project manager of the huge construction project that *dominates* her property, befriended the little old lady. He eventually cooked meals for her, checked in on her daily, drove her to the doctor. I'm gratified to learn that there are people, still, who can be civil while being on opposite sides of a given situation.

The picture above does not do justice to the claustrophobic mismatch of these two properties. I'll take some pics if anyone's interested.

I'm also relieved that this situation didn't devolve into an eminent domain/takings debacle. Not everything has a price. Or, perhaps, some prices are so dear that all parties agree they're too high.

I think the mismatch is a debacle. The officials who greenlighted the commercial project like this should be ashamed of themselves. There should be setbacks from her property, and the commercial building should be stepped away from her property so that it's only one or two stories where it adjoins her propery.

This is a textbook example of how not to do development.

bigv,

I would love to see a few more pictures of you could. Maybe one that could be blown up a little. I find the story very heart-tugging!! ;-(

Part of the plan (after they realized she wouldn't sell) was to wait and acquire her land after she died. There was a quote in another article from the developer, saying specifically that they had left open holes in the construction for the appropriate beams to be inserted when the land was inevitably absorbed. The project manager who befriended her may or may not have had completely altruistic intentions... but the fact remains that now she has passed on with no living relatives, and only one close friend who was there with her until the end. The will hasn't been made public, but I bet I can guess who she left the land to.

And so they made the poor old lady endure that construction and aggravation up until she drew her last breath.

Edit: You expect a commercial developer to behave this way, but what excuse do the Seattle zoning/building officials have for their behavior? They approved this development. They approved what was done to this old lady.

It's only a house. If people would put less emphasis on material goods like houses, oil, television etc., this world would be a tree hugger's paradise.

*looks around* is this the non-sequitor thread?

Bless her soul - certainly one of the last of a dying breed - Those without a price...

Well there goes todays IOtD. :haha:

This makes me think of Poletown, where, in 1981, General Motors and the cities of Detroit and Hamtramck, Michigan, used eminent domain to take over 1,300 homes, plus numerous businesses and churches, evicting about 4,000 people. They then leveled the whole area and built a Cadillac plant.

The plant was supposed to employ 6,500 workers, but most of the land was turned into parking lots and the plant only employed about 3,000 workers.

Funny, I just assumed this was an IOtD.

Well.. I forgot that posting in IOtD was left to anyone now and was late and tired. oops. If someone wants to move it.
Yea I would love to see more pics of this. Maybe BigV could post more in IOtD.

Excellent Idea, for Big V to do an IOtD with better pictures.

Hear, hear!

BigV certainly has the mad skillz to take a better picture too. And a higher rez one.

BV,

You should take one from the bridge looking down towards Leary. And also from Cash & Carry. That way you can get the size of the complex she was surrounded by.

History: It used to be a dirt parking lot for dump trucks. Ridiculous. Sshe was surrounded by trash constantly and she wouldn't budge then either. She was a sort of icon for standing up for her rights. The area was always run down. I imagine that when she moved in, the area was more woods than anything.

Her house in "better" times.

If anyone has google earth here are the co-ordinates: 47°39'44.47"N 122°22'31.34"W. It's not as new as the picture in the articale but you really do get the scope as to how cramped it was.

I'll try to orient you so you can better visualize the situation. The picture in the opening post was taken facing due north.

The first picture in this post is taken from across the intersection facing southwest, looking at the northeast corner of the building. I'm due north of Cash and Carry.

The second picture is taken looking to the northwest from the middle of the block. It is the first place you can "see" the lady's property.

Approaching her house...

And we can finally see the actual structure.

It's really cramped here...

Well, I bet her electricity costs went down, with all that insulation and shade around her house...

The west side of the property line, looking north. I think the white plywood wall on the right is on her property--a shield to protect from flying construction debris.

The second picture is looking upward at the eastern edge of her roof.

Still south of her house, now looking northeast. The new building just swallows hers up.

Mike's Chili Parlor still stands on the northwest corner of the block. It's a dive.

A small memorial posted on her fence.

Excellent pictures BigV! Much better coverage than the original.

It predates the construction. But it's clearly a shield of some sort (see post 18.)

You're probably right. I think it's her "fence". An opaque light colored "fence". A wall, really, to separate her property from the wasteland around her. I remember that lot before the new building was erected. The picture in post #18 is about on target. What a dump.

Nice pictures V.

What's going in that building?

Is that what people mean when they talk about a gated community?

I think it's one of those mega-churches.

The only thing more irresistably hip and stylish would be building the damn thing on a Native American burial ground.

Because, you know, we Americans don't buy enough stuff.

Sod having balls of steel to protect you, in the US you tether your buildings with shops and gyms!

Let this be a warning people the Cellar is everywhere watching everything. Google wants to be us.

Are there no zoning laws in Seattle? Most places won't allow any new construction within 100 feet of an existing home.

I think here in Ohio, there has to be a 5 foot beautification strip between the properties. I might be wrong.

Seattle is one of the most highly regulated cities planetwide. Apparently, this lady found herself at odds with the desires of the regulators.

So, the laws don't count if you piss off the regulators in Seattle?

You're basing that on your assumption that there is some kind of restriction on building within 100 feet of a dwelling. There is no such law in most urban, and few suburban areas, anywhere I've lived.