The Stranger Reflects on Second and Pine
Back when I was younger and working at Microsoft I would head to Pagliacci Pizza on Friday nights before heading out to the bar. While scarfing down two slices of pizza and as much water as I could handle I’d catch up on what was going on in Seattle by reading the Stranger. These days I work late on Friday’s (well everyday), come home burnt out, collapse on the couch, don’t really eat, and then at 11 try and rally before last call. Needless to say, I don’t read the Stranger much any more. But I did do a quick skim through at lunch yesterday and spotted this article on Second and Pine, Black Hole 1: What The Last 20 Years Did to Second and Pine.
Reading the article I found out it took the 10 weeks to fill in the hole with 19,000 cubic feet of dirt from the Maple Leaf Reservoir. There was also a reflection of what’s transpired and what’s to come with development in Seattle:
This past building boom has transformed this city into at times unrecognizable form: alien blue glass awnings, Vegas-inspired neoclassical detailing. Sites that previously conjured pure potential now sit full and concretely mediocre, towering commitments of millions of dollars, thousands of hours of human concern clearly stated.
It’s somehow fitting that our very own Seattle City Hall is a viewing perch onto an even larger hole occupying an entire city block. From there it is apparent: We are in the midst of a period where little big will happen soon.
