David Brewster
Be sure to read this essay by Jon Talton on the roots of Seattle’s unequal growth-spurt. One interesting point he makes is that Seattle is becoming a laggard in starting up new businesses. They are being squeezed out by high costs, monopolies, and city regulations. Key quote: “Local shops and small companies have
My take is different. If the UW’s quality fails .. not just in STEM but in ideas and academic vitality … this region will go limp like a leaky balloon. Public research universities across the US … Univ. of IIlinois, Wisconsin, North Carolina and even Berkeley are in decline, under attack by the right because of aversion to taxes and by the left with its position to elitism. I am afraid that our regional leaders, not just the politicians but folks like Gates and Schultz and Bezos … see too little value in this place and may not realize that unlike the Bay area, Boston, DC, North Carolina or Chicago. WASTATE has no private universities, no Alma Mater to provide breast milk for our start ups.
been squeezed. Even many startups face a difficult road. Americans are starting fewer businesses than in decades past and business “deaths” have outpaced new companies. According to the Kauffman Foundation, Seattle ranked only No. 16 last year in startup activity. Want to start a technology company or a restaurant? You have far better chance at raising capital than if you want to replace such lost Seattle treasures as City Kitchens, Ralph’s Grocery or one of the many independent bookstores that have vanished.”
