Lease lid won't help overflow

Brian Turner's opinion piece from the July 2 issue of The Daily was based on inaccurate assumptions and reached erroneous conclusions.

First among these is the notion that eliminating restrictions on UW leasing will "relocate offices and research labs to vacant spaces surrounding the campus," to the contrary, in the Feb. 25 issue of The Daily, the head of the UW Real Estate Office stated the UW was likely to focus on new construction projects rather than leasing existing buildings, and the University was unlikely to pursue any projects within the Ave. and the surrounding commercial district. There is little contiguous office space available on the Ave., and existing buildings are not generally suited to UW office and research functions.

There is no requirement that residential units must be included in new UW-leased facilities in commercial zones. When other factors are equal, developers make more money on office space than residential units. The compromise proposal supported by three Seattle City Council members would have lifted the lid to 800,000 square feet and exempted projects that had a residential component of 30 percent, which would have offered a real incentive for the UW to develop housing. Unfortunately, the City Council majority reversed its initial decision requiring housing in new leased projects under pressure from the UW and the mayor.

The notion that the UW will develop housing in commercial zones without being required to do so is wishful thinking. In a letter to the council, the UW Office of Regional Affairs flatly stated, "The University can help create the new jobs, but we are not in the business of creating housing." There is no "housing agreement" for the UW to honor; rather, there are vague goals that can't be measured or enforced.

In residential areas, however, low-income housing displacement has been exacerbated by the elimination of the prohibition on UW leasing of residentially zoned property. This change put private-market lower-rent housing in our neighborhood at risk, and the ASUW and The Daily did their constituents a serious disservice by supporting it. Well heeled students may be able to afford upscale housing developments, but gentrifying the U-District will reduce middle- and lower- income students' ability to live there.

To see what much of the U-District will look like as a result of eliminating the lease lid, stand at the corner of Northeast 43rd and Northeast 11th Avenue NE and look north - a facade of office and research facilities that contain no housing, add significantly to congestion and go dark.

In running its July 2 op-ed, The Daily has missed a golden opportunity to question authority, and instead apparently chose to simply reprint press releases. Its readers deserve better.

Matthew Fox graduated from the UW in 1988 with a degree in political science.