On a Roll Table Topics

Table Topic questions are meant to stimulate family and classroom discussion.
Use the questions below after reading,"On a roll, the city spreads out."

Seattle experienced phenomenal growth in the twenty years between 1880 and 1910, growing from a town to a prosperous city of 237,000 people. That is an amazing amount of change in a short period of time. How did the young city handle the pressures of population? Our region is experiencing another growth spurt and transportation and neighborhoods remain key components, especially with space at a premium. Look through the newspaper for discussions of the pressures of regional growth and proposed solutions. Offer some of your own.
Convenient mass transportation freed working class citizens to buy their own homes along the rail lines. Residents left landlords behind and traveled farther from town, where land was plentiful and cheap. Without access to streetcars, could Seattle have developed as it did, with a lightly populated city center and nearby but distinct residential neighborhoods? How does this pattern of development differ from that of Eastern cities? What factors were involved?
There's a similar phenomenon occurring today, with affordable homes located farther away from employment centers, along I-5 and 405. In spite of that, some note a move back to city living, because the appeal of affordable housing is offset by long, often congested commutes. Think about where you live and what is important to you in a neighborhood, whether urban or suburban. Has your location been dictated by choice or by necessity? What are the advantages and disadvantages of urban and suburban lifestyles?
The areas considered suburbs at the time, like Ballard, Ravenna, Green Lake, University District, Rainier Valley, Columbia City and West Seattle are now urban neighborhoods. Their relative distance from the city center at the time helped them to develop their own distinct personalities. Do you think these unique qualities have changed over time? Have today's suburban communities developed similarly distinctive personalities? Why or why not?
A newspaper ad urged readers to "Be wise! Use your Rent Money to Buy a $50 Lakefront Lot on the 5-cent Car Line." Look through today's real estate section. Can you find any ads with essentially the same message? What other messages are used to encourage people to buy? Though it's hard not to envy those 1910 lakefront prices, do you think it was as difficult to come up with a down payment then as it is now?
What additional factors affect the current real estate market? How do you think high home-ownership affects a neighborhood?
The heavy use of public streetcar transportation created its own culture, with its own social etiquette and rules. Middle-class people from all kinds of professions mingled together on a daily basis. Think about the differences in streetcar culture and today's car culture. How does the way we travel affect the way we treat each other? What do you think would motivate individual car commuters to resume a communal transportation style, like mass transit or light rail?