Kemper Freeman's War on Transit

[@saxmanb777]

I hate how we have to vote on transit projects but when it comes to highways and road projects, we don’t get a say. It’s just done, whether we want it or not.

[@eugenetswong]

This is true for conservative and liberal governments. I can't think of 1 federal government in USA or Canada, or a state/provincial government, that is different from what you say. It's disgusting. Just a few hours ago, I realized that we don't need more fact based videos. We need advocacy/political videos that threaten governments. Right now we should be rallying any government that can help. For example, in Canada, we should be our federal government and Toronto's government. Seattle should be doing likewise.

[@macronecteshalli9427]

I appreciate how you get straight into the point with all of your videos. I also appreciate how your videos just end when all you needed say has been said. It is refreshing!

[@Ranman242]

"Designed by politician and *chair thief*, Tim Eyman..." That threw me for a loop lol

[@barryrobbins7694]

Accessibility is important. Some viewers might be interested in reading, “When Driving Is Not An Option: Steering Away From Car Dependency” by Anna Letitia Zivarts (Washington State Resident).

[@PeteLorimer]

Thank you for bringing this to light. I have been telling this story for years. It needs to be more widely known

[@diskordant3843]

Man I wish these people would just be tolerant and listen to evidence and pleas to be treated like fellow humans ..

[@qjtvaddict]

They won’t you know the language they understand

[@DanielBrotherston]

Some people are horrible...that'll never change...what can change is us choosing to give them power. Unfortunately given the last election, seems people aren't really willing to do that either.

[@mrshaw9201]

@@DanielBrotherston no, given the results of the last election i'd say that throwing horrible psychopaths out of power is EXACTLY what the american people did.

[@ThrowAwayAsinine]

Great vid, glad you are back 💪

[@ArthurAllen2]

When the main Bellevue Link station location was finalized, (according to what I remember) the plans were for it not to have an entrance on the west side by the bus Transit Center, because that would be too close to Bellevue Square, by three blocks. Instead, everyone would have to enter or exit out the east side by the freeway, and climb a hill towards the transit center and downtown. Cooler heads prevailed and now there's an entrance by the transit center. At one time, Bellevue Square had the Cellophane Square used CD store, which was replaced by an expanded McDonald's. Both of them attracted common people, and both of them are gone now. Also, I grew up with my dad listening to KZAM, the free-form FM station Kemper Freeman owned in the 70s. The AM station was a modern rock station for a time. Sometimes some good things come out of his projects.

[@AaronTheHarris]

The irony of all this is that, in the Seattle region, the average net worth of transit riders is higher than the net worth of people commuting by car. So at this point is it purely ideological.

[@Flying_Basil]

This video is fantastic!! Thank you so much for all your research and hard work and putting this video together!! I've shared it with people in my Seattle area network, and am so grateful this resource is out there for people to learn more about this ***hole and our local history

[@Flying_Basil]

Isn't it amazing how interconnected wh*te supremacy, colonialism, classism, racism, and transit/ social equity/ climate change are 🥲😭 ugh, progress one step at a time huh

[@komodoensis-rex]

Wow, I've wondered why Bellevue downtown has made all these really strange design choices that make it a horrible place to visit (e.g. bike lanes in weird spots and not on useful routes, link rail on the opposite edge from the mall, giant redundant streets and car lanes, inconvenient and unsustainable ATV "shuttles" driving around, etc). I'm only half way through the video but you've uncovered the reason for the first two already!

[@yourfriendlara]

I'm late in finally getting to watch this but omg thank you so much for making this video. Great job. More people need to understand this history and how things are playing out today.

[@bruceboa6384]

Kemper is almost cartoonishly evil.

[@FeelItRising]

and the whole family tree

[@evanholmes2908]

Almost is doing a lot of heavy lifting there

[@ikea_wizard]

so you are telling me a racist WW2 era land owners grandson is responsible for light rail taking 20 years to reach Tacoma. Got it, thanks.

[@geldshot]

Now I know why I've literally never done any shopping in the mall

[@snowdropps]

Three generations of terrible people making everything worse Thoroughly enjoyed the video, the ending felt a bit abrupt though, maybe an outro was needed

[@handlemonium]

So "Order 66" was inspired by Roosevelt's Order 9066?

[@Mo-mu4er]

What always baffles me about these wealthy assholes, is they almost certainly travel to places like London, Paris, Zurich, all places with thriving public transit systems. And then work super hard to make sure their home is nothing like them. 🙄

[@threeparots1]

Can go two hours north to Vancouver to have a world class system that puts Seattle to shame. Seattle deserves more and doing it so late is so costly. LA is in the same boat, but is trying. San Francisco is better in that regard. Might just need some more transit police and less unusual train cars as it may be cheaper for them.

[@threeparots1]

I like how they called out the main proponents of the Racist WWII policy. Many times they don’t name names on this historical record of many areas. Interest how they mention that this ***hole is still a large part of the Bellevue area. This explains a lot of the non sensical decisions on transit in the Seattle area. I feel Seattle area needs some thing well beyond what Light rail is capable of, but light rail is certainly a minimum necessity. As someone visiting from Vancouver from time to time, the highway centred city is brutal to get around. Is no faster to get around and a major headache and the highways are an eyesore. Especially on the I-5. Seattle had a chance to put in a decent system in the 90s when it would have been less costly and turned it down. Seattle can certainly afford it. I am glad they are doing something belatedly. This is a great video and is well researched. Canada was not immune to the racist policy of internment in WW2.

[@walawala-fo7ds]

Nice job. The titles of these groups are hilarious. Urbanists should take notice however. Conservative think tanks excell at using catchy names to great results

[@mjpapa]

Great vid! Thanks so much for bringing attention to Bellevue's racist history and Kemper Freeman's anti transit agenda. More Seattleites need to know this. Btw 14:11 it's pronounced 'Spo-CAN'

[@sirjuly2791]

Excellent video! I always love when creators show the intersection of history, racism, and of course, urbanism.

[@meerkatmcr]

"former socialist nations that failed economically" under a clip of Network SouthEast, which brought most of the City of London's finance employees to work every day - the level of research I expect from anti-transport activists.

[@conorkrystad4634]

This is a really good video. I've lived in Seattle all my life and I had no idea Bellevue used to be a Japanese farming community. You've seriously done your research going back three generations on the Freeman's to learn their obstructionist actions towards transit. If I could offer some constructive criticism: I think that centering the Freeman's early racist attacks on Japanese people being in Bellevue and their current classist opposition to transit because they fear it may bring in people who wear flip flips. I think that story would have a more linear timeline which teaches a history of Bellevue that, I at least, didn't know. It would be a departure from your channels strict urbanism but it's still related. Someone should put "I am for a white man's Pacific coast -Miller Freeman 1919" on a banner across 520 / I-90 bridge.

[@teufeldritch]

Bon Mar-shay not Bon Mar-chee. Also Spo-can not Spo-cain.

[@StLouis-yu9iz]

Great video, this reminds me a lot of the suburb of Clayton here in the Lou. It's like a second downtown outside the city built for car commuters :/

[@gregbone8149]

Great video

[@tyleralberico]

Wow, this was a great retrospective. I'm from the other side of the country, but it's still a great lesson to learn.

[@torunit4620]

Kemper Freeman looks dangerously like a young David Koch . . . of the Koch brothers.

[@HarvestStore]

Great video.

[@willkrska2644]

I moved here not long ago (thankfully temporarily) from the east coast and fing hate it here. This video helped explain the strange intangible hostility I got from Bellevue. Everyone exists in their own little cocoon.

[@Zalis116]

Amazing how the pro-car crowd across the decades uses almost the exact same talking points.

[@sunandsage]

The Sierra Club endorsed Prop 1. That ad was a lie. Apparently I'm not allowed to put the Sierra Club link to show that.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

I was rather confused by that also. I’ve heard of environmental organizations opposing public transportation projects out of concerns of environmental impact, but my initial guess as to why that was in the ad was that they wanted to manipulate voters by claiming support from an organization well-respected by many citizens (Washington’s always felt to me like a very environmentally conscious state). It would make more sense for the Sierra Club to endorse the project, as an environmental organization of their level of repute would have the funds to research and come to the conclusion that less cars being used is good for the environment.

[@sarahrose9944]

Would love a video on Spokane, Washington as well! Your content is fantastic!

[@monkeyanimationandgaming]

oh god not the light rail proposal that got rejected for it being toO exPenSIvE

[@sideburns38]

Yeah, Bellingham has a similar story. Unfortunately this could be a whole series.

[@monkeyanimationandgaming]

@ honestly its not going too bad here at the moment the buses are actually usable now

[@TenJay]

Good work.

[@RafTheDude]

14:24 - Funny enough, last time I went to Bellevue Square, I kept getting some nasty looks from locals. Snobby women pursing their lips and the such. Weird to believe such behavior still exist in today's society.

[@CraigFThompson]

ALL because of the excessive use of rubber tires/steering wheels; the automobile (car, BUS, and TRUCK) has a tendency to keep people isolated from one another for extended time periods----this leads directly to antisocial behavior (PLEASE view the excellent Disney cartoon entitled "Mr. Walker and Mr. Wheeler"; the cartoon should give you an insight into the behaviors you experienced.

[@SomeGuyWhoPlaysGames333]

@@CraigFThompsonHow is that true for buses? People are usually riding with other people, who they may or may not have already met.

[@CraigFThompson]

@SomeGuyWhoPlaysGames333 Buses do just ONE thing well----they greatly assist in selling private cars (if no or too little of a rail alternative exists). Most motorists, btw, are single-occupant drivers.

[@jimspies2775]

Along with being a well put-together video, this video is another example of a universal truth : There's ALWAYS a Simpsons clip. Always.

[@threeparots1]

Another reason not too let wealthy landowner have too much influence on the operation of a city, especially when the one person is the source of most of the opposition either monetarily or otherwise..the city should be free to help the residents as a whole and not to help line the pockets of a self interested landowner. Seems like he has held back the city from its potential.

[@markstocker5121]

Bellevue is probably my least favorite city in the Puget Sound area.

[@willkrska2644]

As someone who recently moved here from the east coast (thankfully short term) I 100% see your point. I cannot wait to go back to a less pedestrian-hostile city.

[@Mo-mu4er]

@@willkrska2644 It's wild, isn't it? Downtown has the building stock and density of the place you would think would be super walkable, but all the cars, high speed limits, and wide roads make the pedestrian experience miserable.

[@Ponchoed]

​@Mo-mu4er it's entirely the street design, even just allowing on street parking on those wide streets would radically transform the feel of Downtown overnight to be more pedestrian friendly

[@mrvwbug4423]

Let's be honest, the only reason the 2 line finally happened is because Microsoft wanted their "techbro express" and has more pull than Kemper Freeman. It's still a joke that the sound transit light rail lines aren't even remotely interconnected to each other

[@bzz_bee]

The connection over Mercer island is currently in progress. But it's sure taking awhile...

[@danielpateto]

Extremely cool video

[@threeparots1]

I like how they called out rather main proponents of the Rasist WWII policy. Many times they don’t name names on this historical record of many areas. Interest how they mention that this ***hole is still a large part of the Bellevue area. This explains a lot of the non sensical decisions on transit in the Seattle area. I feel Seattle area needs some thing well beyond what Light rail is capable of, but light rail is certainly a minimum necessity. As someone visiting from Vancouver from time to time, the highway centred city is brutal to get around. Is no faster to get around and a major headache and the highways are an eyesore. Especially on the I-5. Seattle had a chance to put in a decent system in the 90s when it would have been less costly and turned it down. Seattle can certainly afford it. I am glad they are doing something belatedly. This is a great video and is well researched. Canada was not immune to the racist policy of internment in WW2.

[@kevintodaro8501]

Thanks for making this video. I didn't know about the Freeman family's racist history. I wonder how they feel now that Bellevue is majority non-while LOL!

[@blubaughmr]

I live in Seattle but often ride my bicycle to my mother-in-law's house in Bellevue. Cars are definitely king in Bellevue.

[@heidenburg5445]

we can build 100 ebike batteries out of the lithium cells in the white man's tesla because of just how much power is required to move around 4000 lithium cells in the first place

[@adogswimming1474]

When I lived there for a year, it was horrible as you cannot go anywhere without a car.

[@forivall]

These local business people are just local monarchy / nobles. Just little tyrants all around.

[@forivall]

Somehow, north of the border, it seems that our local big businessman, Jim Pattison, is likely to have his business empire inherited by the former left wing premier and former union organizer, Glen Clark. But that's the thing, we shouldn't just be at the whims of rich businessmen.

[@my2iu]

Maybe Bellevue should just make a new downtown. They can zone the area around the light rail line as being a high density transit-oriented development zone with great shopping and eating and a vibrant nightlife. And the city can leave Bellevue Square to survive on its own with its car-driving clientele.

[@Ponchoed]

Downtown Bellevue is a new Downtown, almost all of it has been built in the last 30 years and in an urban form, almost none of the 1950s-1970s strip mall building stock remains. It's time for the old stroads to catch up with the new development.

[@my2iu]

@ The last time I was there (which was admittedly 10 years ago), I was waiting for the bus in downtown near the bus transit center and there was nothing to do, so I ended up going to the mall. Ideally, there would have been something closer and better where I could have gone instead of having to give my money to a guy making my bus experience worse.

[@cmdrls212]

nice research. they are still around calling themselves smarter transit

[@sunandsage]

Kemper must be a slow driver who wants everyone else to have to drive slow on freeways.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

“Slow driver” is a subjective title anyway. Where I’m from following the limit makes you a “slow driver” and most people who call others that are the Dodge/Ram drivers who want to go 85+ on the Interstate and spread terror into the hearts of us reasonable drivers. Even then Kemper seems like the kind of guy to go five under the limit in the leftmost lane because “my Mercedes’ suspension can’t handle higher speeds on these rough American roads without me getting slightly discomforted”

[@sunandsage]

@DiamondKingStudios I'm usually going five over the speed limit. I rarely go over that.

[@DiamondKingStudios]

@@sunandsage As for me, I usually oscillate between the limit and five under, maybe reaching five over briefly or as part of passing other motorists. I frankly have nothing against people who go 55 on a 70mph highway as long as they stay in the rightmost lane that allows them to stay in their route; 55 mph is usually better for gas mileage, and unless you’re at that weird part of I-93 four lanes is the baseline of Interstate standards, so there should be a way to pass those cars.

[@artlewellan2294]

As an advocate for (and designer of) public transit systems, I have to agree that municipal bus fleets, routes and schedules are woefully obsolete. Adding light rail to an entirely bus system must insure the functional integration between bus and rail. Light rail can serve long-distance transit trips comfortably, but riders are left with intolerably long wait times at transit centers and other transfer points, rail to bus. Standard 40' city buses do NOT convert to EV very well, nor are they suitable for stop-n-go circuitous routes. Yet the price for electrifying obsolete chassis city buses leaps from $350k to $750k. Yellow School bus and paratransit lift van fleets likewise do NOT convert to EV very well. Opposition to investment in public transit begins with car-related business interests; finance, insurance, sales, marketing, construction of roadways, parking lots, traffic management systems and car-dependent housing.

[@hendman4083]

06:25 "End Gidlock Now" .... when you can't even get the title of your video right, what does that mean for the content you are presenting? 😂😂

[@InternetKilledTV21]

Ah yes, what a boondoggle. Like the MTA. New York's biggest boondoggle. Where more than half of households report not owning a vehicle because of the prevalence of other options. Got it.

[@LimitedWard]

Kemper needs to get in his Mercedes and drive a couple hours north to Vancouver to see what happens when you build high quality public transit adjacent to malls.

[@gauisbaltardidnothingwrong5053]

I'm glad we don't have a Kemper figure in Renton

[@CraigFThompson]

Unfortunately, there was a similar bastard in New York City named Robert Moses, who made efforts to pave over the vast majority of the city of New York.

[@HankGrill344]

“END GIDLOCK NOW” 🤪

[@Matty002]

capitalism and racism is quite the devious duo

[@djlmfaoivan]

I feel like making a barcode sticker that connects to this video, but I know they will take them off

[@Skip6235]

Why does this guy hate trains so much?

[@Terigena]

Because the Japanese like them.

[@usernameryan5982]

@@Terigenathat’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. Bellevue is 2.6% Japanese while Seattle is 1.6% so it’d most likely dilute the Japanese population if anything so we know that’s all crap. The reason he’s probably against it is because Seattle has been spending basically a billion dollars per mile to build basic infrastructure besides the lynnwood connection which they already had the majority of the right of way and had at grade sections along I5.

[@CraigFThompson]

Simply, racism. Trains allow people of ALL races, nationalities, or "whatevers" to ride, as long as the fare is paid. Not only that, but trains save huge amounts of money over buses, not only by outlasting them, but also outperforming them. Buses have a tendency to get stuck in traffic jams and at red lights----while this happens, that bus driver's GETTING PAID FOR NOT DOING A LICK OF WORK WHATSOEVER! Whenever a train stops, most likely it's at a station serving the needs of passengers either boarding or alighting that train----SELDOM is there a red signal of significant duration to make a dent in a particular train's schedule. Now, let's get into the "Hitler strips" Eisenhower imported from NAZI GERMANY; since the very first cupful of concrete was placed for thsir initial construction, not ONE SINGLE MILLIMETER of the network has paid for itself, but instead has demanded ever-increasing amounts of governmental oversubsidization annually; the price tag is now slightly more than a TRILLION DOLLARS, the vast majority of which could've been made up if a couple of Eisenhower's suggestions were taken to heart: one, being that toll booths be set up at certain predetermined distances along each stretch of stuperhighway as well as at each state's border, and two, special taxes to be collected from motorists and vehicle fleet owners ONLY to provide the bulk of the funding for maintenance and repair; if any other stretches are demanded, the special taxes will be increased to cover the construction (and maintenance) costs. Another huge item ignored by a congress where a good portion of the members are bought and paid for by the automotive industry and energy corporations is the fact that Eisenhower wanted the interstates to follow the exact same design and planning strategies of the German autobahn; instead of skirting their ways AROUND the cities, with one on/off ramp becoming a "minor" road which metamorphoses into a wide boulevard complete with intersections and traffic signals, as well as non-automotive public transit along that corridor----the automotive industry and energy corporations won out; the results we see today are ruined and destroyed cities that have become death camps with traffic lights, devoid of what makes ANY metropolis a true, real city: THE PEDESTRIAN!

[@kailahmann1823]

Because like many Americans he wants to make life as miserable as possible for poor people - especially, when those aren't white enough… In the American mind transit is only for the poor and desperate - because, who else would use such a shitty system.

[@hendman4083]

Maybe he was not allowed to play with trains as a kid, and suffered some major trauma from that?

[@punishedkid]

My mall needs to make more money BUT NOT LIKE THAT!!!

[@mrshaw9201]

boycott the stores in his mall, and those brands until they move elsewhere. simple.

[@handlemonium]

LuL this dude seems to have nowhere better to throw his personal money at than lobbying for more better traffic. It's like he's a control freak who only believes only millionaire motorists would enjoy his malls. 🙄

[@williamhuang8309]

22:50 what happened to freedom of speech

[@DiamondKingStudios]

What I wanted to know also.

[@FeelItRising]

Stoking fear of immigrantshas been going on for centuries. Unfortunately just happened again.

[@narglefargle]

What the fuck is "gidlock?" 🤣🤣🤣

[@chadnewton5721]

Thank you for this timely video, in a political and media environment where many want to bring back internment camps.

[@yagi3925]

What city or town is this about? Not the whole world is familiar with your village, mate! You’re on the www, so learn to situate things, to start with.

[@shermangoering]

Nice video--thank you!

[@hjermsted22]

Kemper Jr. is a bad joke. There's an un-used and dilapidated helicopter pad on top of his Bellevue Place building. I guess at some point he wanted to be a Big Shot flying above the Bellevue car traffic he himself made worse via political interference.

[@cougsjohnson1]

Another Reason why Kemper Jr has tried to re-write history regarding his Grandfather, is because of the Huge Demographic Shift in Bellevue. Bellevue has now become the "Irvine CA" of the PNW, & is 46% Asian. The local Per Capital average Income on The Eastside actually is also highest as Asians now have the Highest Median Income followed by Whites. Therefore, he has to keep his New Top Demographically wealthy customers happy. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with him actually liking Japanese People.

[@bzz_bee]

Spokane is pronounced spo-can, not cane

[@railworksamerica]

eastrail shouldnt exist. we need a commuter rail line there not a bike trail

[@ch98hb]

India is making the same mistakes as the US in the 60s, the most populous country will be scarred for a very long time if this continues

[@amac2612]

yes light rail everywere in the world has been a failure.

[@chickennuggetcentral576]

Calgary, San Diego, Guadalajara, and that’s just sticking to North America.

[@sdrx902]

just letting you know, even if its reading/quoting from something, youre still not supposed to say slurs. it would be much better to just circle the word and say "this word". i dont wanna sound mean if you didnt know, but still kinda yikes....

[@Norfirio]

Everyone else has said everything that needs to be said about the evils of the Freeman family. Please learn how to pronounce "Spokane" Also, it's Bon Mar-SHAY not Mar-CHEE