the seattle freeze

matt pointed me at a really interesting article in The Seattle Times: Pacific Northwest Magazine.

I don’t think the behaviour they describe is unique to Seattle.

But the dichotomy most fundamental to our collective civic character is this: Polite but distant. Have a nice day. Somewhere else.

“People here don’t ever just hang out — there’s no time for that — but those are the times you really get to know people.”

Any attempt to socialize begins to feel like too much effort, he says. “You have to try to get together 10 times before someone doesn’t cancel.”

People here . . . they totally blow you off. And these are good friends, right? They just don’t call you. It’s unbelievable.”

California has its share of flakes, too.

SCOTUS blows eminent domain decision

The US supreme court said your city can give your land to developers. In her scathing dissent, O’Connor wrote:

Any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private party, but the fallout from this decision will not be random. The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms.

AP: “She was joined in her opinion by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, as well as Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.”