Bob Andreason, part owner of Ehlers Construction, had no answer when asked how he could justify hurting the next door business, destroying a community garden for the hungry, and generally going against the will of the neighborhood in order to impose his will of helping his investor group s retirement fund. What he did say was that the new owners were abiding by the law. The law does not require developers to show the courtesy of at least talking to local neighbors before drastically changing their neighborhood. The development of living neighborhoods is made through interpersonal relationships, not the ownership of land. In fact our city laws are designed to help profit before people, and support more bureaucracy as opposed to promoting relationships.
Laws are more efficient.
Profit requires efficiency. Relationships do not. People in Whiteaker are trying hard to recognize that they can only progress through mutual aid and mutual respect rather than governmental laws. We recognize that there is an imbalance of power slanted toward the rich and against the poor. We recognize that the rich control the nauseating meetings that are designed to make us think that we have a say in city government.