After sending e-mails of concerns to Mayor Nickels and the city council regarding concerns of the possible unnecessary cost of rebuilding, replacing the viaduct as well as what is happening to West Seattle with the high density building that is going on I have come to this one conclusion. They just don't get it!

I received responses from the mayor and three council members, which I greatly appreciated. With the exception of one they all came back with pretty much the same response - all this will make Seattle and West Seattle a much more "exciting city to live in" and that "we are on our way to becoming a great city like those in California or New York."

If I wanted to live in cities like those in California or New York I would have moved there years ago. And if they are so great then why are their citizens moving to Seattle and saying how great it is here? Why are they leaving these exciting cities? Probably because the are not so great to live in.

Maybe they are nice for the tourist but not for the citizens who must try to conduct normal lives there, like work, commute, and raise their children.

They told me that a tunnel would "increase property values." Why in the world would I want my boxy 1,600square foot house on a 4,000 square foot lot to be worth $450,000, much less any more than that? I don't want to be property rich, what I want is to be able to afford the taxes on the home I plan to live my life in.

What I want is be able to see my children and their friends be able to afford homes in the neighborhoods they grew up in and where their parents live. What I want is to be able to take my family to Husky Deli for a ice cream and not have to drive around for 15 minutes to find a parking that cost me $3 for the half hour we are there cause all the parking spaces are taken with single occupant cars who are there to have drinks with friends.

News flash - it's not all about money.

We are talking about quality of life here and no amount of property value is going to make up for not having love ones being able to afford to live near you. Maybe the mayor isn't worried about those things but I am sure many of us average West Seattleites are.

All these new multi-unit structures that are going up are not being built to raise children in, they are being built for one or two people. Is that really what we want West Seattle to become? Do we want to lose our families and have them replaced with only affluent single or childless couples? They are the only ones who can afford to purchase those units.

Some people may view this as discriminatory but it's not about not liking affluent single people, it's about losing our families and neighborhoods, it's about having to lose our quality of life, it's about forcing long time residents out of their homes, it's about being able to take a walk and see families in their yards and hear children playing instead of row after row of skinny townhouses or 3-plus story condos, it's about what is right for the people not about who can make how much money out of it, it's about West Seattle and Seattle becoming California or New York.

Is that what Mayor Nickels and the City Council want? Then they just don't get it and they also won't get my vote next time around.

Norma Hernandez

Belvidere