#dontmakemycityathemepark — Public Fediverse posts

RE: https://mastodon.scot/@kim_harding/117094831542412270

Not the kind of tourism we want in Seattle, either.
#criminals #cruise #criminalcruiseships #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

@rationaldoge We have a Cinerama theatre in Seattle, now owned and run by local film fan organization, SIFF, and a couple of commercial IMAX screens in the area. I’ve been critical of tourism boostering the cruise ship industry running 16 departures a week here this year, but SIFF has fallen on hard times since the pandemic (brought here by cruise ships). Link to SIFF Odyssey.
#film #Odyssey #Cinerama #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

https://www.siff.net/cinema/cinema-venues/siff-cinema-downtown?day=3#now

https://seattlecruisecontrol.org/news/

Interesting to read about how Barcelona is trying to limit “leisure tourism” which is at present 2/3 of 15.7 million visitors in 2025. The goal is to reduce it to 1/3 and limit total to 16 million visitors. Residents cannot access civic amenities under present conditions. Moratorium on hotel construction and vacation rentals.
#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark #Barcelona #RespectCulture

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/10/travel/barcelona-overtourism-jose-antonio-donaire.html?unlocked_article_code=1.w1A.dvIm.gze6-KRf8Gt-&smid=url-share

Looks like cruise ships might be in peril. Aug 10, 2026, Tracy Arm fjord in SE Alaska.:“…a 150-passenger cruise ship, the National Geographic Venture, … was sitting just outside the fjord… 3 cruise ships, thousands of passengers, small tour boats visit the fjord daily, ferrying tourists up to the glacier’s calving face. Had the Venture been up the fjord, the wave would have been “unsurvivable,” says Dr. Higman

#landslide #tsunami #Alaskacruise #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/06/science/tsunami-landslide-alaska-climate-arctic.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jlA.p8lK.MEYqlPpDskhV&smid=url-share

Gabrielle Goliath planned “Elegy,” video installation: singers hold a sung note, tribute to women, gay and trans people who died by violent means. In Venice, include a section dedicated to Hiba Abu Nada, a Palestinian poet killed in an Israeli airstrike.
Culture minister Gayeon McKenzie terminated Art Periodic agreement for South Africa pavilion, instead to feature art that gave “a positive message” about his country.
#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark #OrArtFestivalAdvertising

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/20/arts/design/south-africa-venice-biennale.html?unlocked_article_code=1.OlA.2iD6.Zvrj8mXdT3Vy&smid=url-share

A lengthy and detailed analysis which includes actual discriminatory use of technologies within the civil rights department. From the outside of city government, we have attributed similar management disfunction to other city agencies. No amount of high tech signage can distract from these glaring workplace issues.
#Seattle #CivilRights #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

https://open.substack.com/pub/ericacbarnett/p/staff-call-for-removal-of-civil-rights?r=ct3l&utm_medium=ios

>What's the difference between the amenities of the beautiful new building (and from the outside, it is beautiful) and the amenities on one of the five mammoth cruise ships that petri dish our public health and pollute our Salish Sea for months each sailing season? Why don't we prioritize housing, a clean waterway, pubic transit, Green New Deal as amenities to lure conferences here?
#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark #CruiseControl

David Kroman's prose is so distorting: nearly every paragraph contains passive voice deflecting responsibility from the biggest booster of our area, namely the Seattle Times. Active voice for "architect David Dahl [who] became a leading voice opposing.., writing extensively for local publications ... echoing doubts voiced by some ...City Hall figures, including former Mayor Mike McGinn." Wasn't hotel/motel tax for arts funding in King County? >

#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-convention-centers-attendance-is-up-so-why-is-it-fragile/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_inset_1.1

After a week on the Washington coast, without phone, internet or television, we sit in the Kingston ferry line because only one boat is running. Perhaps administrators figured fewer passengers would be traveling during the football game competitively broadcast right now.
#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark
#DontMakeItASportsStadiumEither
#SelfDetermination #AbolishICE

Protest war on Venezuela at new pedestrian walkway at Seattle Waterfront (near beer parlors, Aquarium, cruise ship docks), our new public space since the city government chased us away from anything near bus and parking. Starting now at 3:30pm
via Answer Coalition
#Seattle #Protest #Venezuela #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark
Same problems as ride shares, a once seemingly imaginative concept reduces housing supply in communities. What do you think hotels are for? As my hairdresser and I agreed, who wants to do laundry while traveling? This is a huge problem in #Seattle encouraged by Durkan, Harrell and the soon to be former City Council.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2025/12/17/please-dont-do-this-to-us-saratogans-ask-city-not-to-allow-short-term-rentals/?share=oiau1hmreyswssn2ontd

@Nikolas I have so many grievances with these floating petri dishes. We have 5 per week leaving the docks made especially for them in Seattle (no marketing intended), but fortunately, our voters just eliminated our cruise ship and World cup anti graffiti mayor. (He'd recently suggested a digital/AI interactive image of MLK jr to ask what he'd had for breakfast).

https://southseattleemerald.org/voices/2025/10/19/doom-loop-let-bruce-cook

#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

Seattle mayor Bruce Harrell’s new budget expands SPD, visibility for World Cup activities and graffiti removal using a regressive sales tax funding. Instead of housing spending support, mass transit and arts programs, this mayor prioritizes tourists. #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

https://open.substack.com/pub/ericacbarnett/p/harrells-latest-budget-spikes-citys?r=ct3l&utm_medium=ios

@DMichaelHarris Currently underway in Seattle by the ignorant and anti-art @MayorofSeattle Bruce Harrell.
#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

We were in California when Primary Election night in Seattle revealed progressive majorities in every contest. This op-ed by Alex Fryer of the Seattle Times editorial staff muddles with fallacious arguments such as guilt by association and misdirecting definitions, basic rhetoric studies in high school. I think he’s trying to undermine the real concerns progressive voters have raised about current city leadership and priorities.
#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark
#Seattle
https://www.seattletimes.com/opinion/primary-election-shows-we-just-cant-quit-ideological-drama/

These signs are foolish and wasteful. Corporate and anti-art. Mayor Bruce Harrell is so worried about graffiti, but if he put more money into support for the arts and giant graphic installations which express the enthusiasm of our city instead of this bullshit, we would have some really interesting environments.
#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark #BruceHarrellistheEricAdamsofSeattle
Seattle Times' article, "Seattle Council signs off on towering digital billboards"

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/seattle-council-signs-off-on-towering-digital-billboards/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=article_inset_1.1

Disturbing confrontations as mayor and council struggle to outlaw Seattle culture. From IWW general strike, grunge, performance and conceptual art, Capitol Hill’s Pride to contemporary spray paint and music, Seattle has a history of a culture exploring rebellion and resistance. Monetizing cultural expression by brewpub experiences or charging admission to public arts festivals encourages transgressions. Residents need arts and parks.
#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark #Seattle
https://open.substack.com/pub/ericacbarnett/p/council-cant-wait-to-vote-hell-yes?r=ct3l&utm_medium=ios

@peterjriley2024 @ExtinctionR @firstdogonthemoon In the US, the forces of wealth influence have been grooming the population to tolerate and celebrate the culture of the 1% since the 1970’s and the tv show The Love Boat. One of the more egregious was Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous during the Reagan era. This continues in recent HBO productions. Fantasy Island needs a visit from Extinction Rebellion and Greenpeace.
#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

@peterjriley2024 @ExtinctionR @firstdogonthemoon Venice has been organizing because of the entitled interests of the cruise and related tourism industries. It’s admirable that this historic and vulnerable city’s residents are pushing back against the scourge of capitalist grifting of their cultural heritage. It will take years to repair the damage of the Bezos/Sanchez descent of the rich and famous.
#cruisecontrol #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

Looks like celebrity weddings fit the theme park bill, too.
#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark #JeffBezos #NoSpaceForBezos

https://f24.my/BFvE

Looks like a sensible perspective on our #1 issues in Seattle, housing and public transportation.
#CommunityHousing #MLKBlvd #RainierBeach #LightRail #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark
https://publicola.com/2025/04/15/publicola-questions-district-2-city-council-candidate-jamie-fackler/

Dream on dude! Thank goodness that Rinck’s progressive perspective is conservative around prudent budgeting.

#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark #DoomLoop #

https://publicola.com/2025/04/17/councilmember-saka-looks-for-the-bright-side-in-grim-local-revenue-forecast/

I get more information about what and why budgets in Seattle Council and Washington Legislature are failing in 5 minutes reading the South Seattle Emerald than I do in weeks from the Seattle Times.
#budgetfail #jumpstart #WashingtonStateLegislature #SeattleCouncil #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark
https://southseattleemerald.org/voices/2025/04/16/everything-is-political-in-south-seattle-new-candidate-big-deficit

@CrimethInc solid “blue” states politicians also suspect support to #defundthepolice so they cut social services, deferred maintenance and arts programs in favor of increasing “criminal justice” budgets. Interestingly, in Seattle, the city still can’t recruit all the cops Council wants, despite massive signing bonuses, cop city perks. Even potential police candidates are not interested. There’s more progressive utopian vision than media might have you think.
#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

Changing the focus to “functional” over climate emergency solutions is one of the disappointments I’ve witnessed in Governor Ferguson’s egregious reshuffling priorities with the ferries in WA state. I miss Jay Inslee’s priorities. Now must service tourism over residents, including the creatures that live in Puget Sound.
#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark #orcas #salmon #cleanair #cleanwater #2026FIFAWorldCup
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/wa-gov-Ferguson-delays-conversion-of-ferries-to-electric-power/

#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

“But the proposed film studio is not crucial infrastructure or needed housing, unlike much of the other development the government has vowed to speed up.”
New York Times is really missing the problems with this plan. It’s not merely NIMBY when you zone “grey” instead of “green.” Arts is an industry which can benefit development on existing residents’ terms. Ask the Palestinians who’ve been developed recently on someone else’s.
#colonialism
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/23/business/uk-economy-film-studio-development.html?unlocked_article_code=1.zk4.9RZD.vTv3_NuhumNW&smid=url-share

Seattle election results tonight: Proposition 1A appears passing (57%) community housing with progressive funding: a tax on companies with salaries over $1M. Seattle Chamber of Commerce and most of Council, Mayor, etc measure 1B appears overcome. In Seattle, it takes a few days to count all the votes, but later votes tend progressive.
#communityhousing #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark #socialhousing

https://www.cascadepbs.org/politics/2025/02/seattle-poised-pass-excess-compensation-tax-social-housing

These companies pollute our Puget Sound waters with their discharge when our resident killer whale pods are starving because of salmon depletion. The ships are noisy and the air pollution from stack gas raises levels to unbreathable. This article doesn’t even analyze the industry’s threat to human health through its Petri dish ventilation and food safety issues. Not to speak of labor issues.
#DontMakeMyCityAThemePark #CruiseControl #BanCruiseShips #COVID19 #CO2
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/25/carnival-cruise-line-emitted-more-co2-in-2023-than-scotlands-biggest-city-report

@Snoro #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

From Saturday: Still here, nice chatting about history, politics, real estate <planetart.space> #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

@blogdiva yes, that part was. They renamed it after about a year when somebody finally realized that the acronym was a joke in The Stranger (local weekly), that it was ruining Vulcan’s brand (Trek fan Paul Allen’s real estate development, basically good old fashioned “urban renewal”). The area now is full of Amazon office/tech not warehouse buildings where workers now probably work from home. #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

METRO virtually eliminated the North Beach route of #18; one amenity of the home we bought in 1994 was its steps away from a bus route both express and local that went to downtown Seattle without transfer. It also went by our gym (with pool) and along the old tram route in our Ballard neighborhood. More people rode this when it cancelled than the SLUT. #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

SLUT again shows planning, administration failures. Vulcan’s Tomorrowland fantasy, gentrification of Cascadia neighborhood into “South Lake Union” busted before pandemic. Food trucks and ramen for lunch replaced dining workers couldn’t afford. Seattle planners made SLUT instead of light rail or even 15 minute busses through Ballard on old tram routes. #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/transportation/south-lake-union-streetcars-shut-down-for-many-weeks/

@nullagent Agreed. The dog and pony show to demonstrate “community support” for Woo, orchestrated by Sara Nelson and Harrell’s allies was an embarrassing attempt to screen real estate developers’ interests. After years of Alaskan Way closure, we drove to Ballard last night from Pioneer Square, now thinned of artist studios and creative industries, on the new “Denny Regrade” conveniently created for cruise ship tourism. This is that vision., manifest. #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

@parismarx this approach in Barcelona would surely help Seattle, but new reactionary city council will never outlaw the privatized profiteering that is vacation homes. #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

@thejapantimes #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

Surveillance fan #SeattleMayor #BruceHarrell appears to be giving up on Shotspotter style surveillance in our fair city but won’t give up all the cameras or facial recognition software so dear to the mentality of paranoid real estate, tourism and chain store interests. #Seattle #Shotspotter #surveillance #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark
https://publicola.com/2024/05/31/mayors-office-nixes-shotspotter-style-gunshot-locator-in-updated-surveillance-proposal/

Tourists rentals’ inflationary effect on local workers may subvert the industry labor pool which enables tourism itself. #Greed #Sustainability #Spain https://www.bbc.com/news/business-68730891 #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

@DavidM_yeg You’ve stated the pithy version, especially the responsibility part. Living in the real estate industry dominated Pacific Northwest as I have for nearly 35 years, #HousingFirst is the antidote to the under-the-bus approach by industry partisans who have profited from controlling the housing supply. Included are conversions to for-profit sharing and tax shelters Local politicians advocating social housing are driven from offices by these operatives. #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark

@fulelo #DontMakeMyCityAThemePark