I always laugh when I read these articles that try to figure out why Kemper Freeman does what he does. They are always wrong, and this one in the Stranger is no different.
Throughout the piece, the author makes a basic assumption (several times) that Freeman is trying to impose HIS vision on society…a personal dream or agenda that Freeman himself has defined. This assumption is wrong and serves as the starting point on why social engineering schemes and the war on cars fails.
Why is the Stranger’s assumption wrong? Freeman is not imposing anything on society. In fact, it’s the other way around…society imposes its own will. It just so happens that Freeman is the only one who is listening.
More than 90% of all person trips are made in automobiles. People choose this mode on their own and spending multiple billions of dollars in public money on light rail will not replace or even put a dent in this behavior. Drivers like personal mobility because it creates freedom and accessibility and leads to economic wealth. Light rail on the other hand, has the opposite effect because it is extremely expensive and so few people choose to use it; light rail is a drain on society and increases the friction between what people want and how they get it. Sound Transit’s two votes would have turned out very differently if officials were more honest about its supposed benefits and higher costs.
Kemper Freeman’s ideas are not the sole product of his own agenda. Kemper Freeman’s ideas are a product of delivering what people want. Why do you think his properties are so successful? Why do you think the City of Bellevue has grown so dramatically in the last twenty years? Freeman has an acute understanding of markets and behavior. He responds to market demand and as a result, he is rightly rewarded for it. Need an example? There are more people who walk across Freeman’s sky bridge on Bellevue Way than will ride light rail across Lake Washington to Bellevue!
Freeman is successful because he understands market demand and he responds to it appropriately. Those who over promise the benefits of light rail, those who protest for more public hand outs, and those county leaders who bizarrely suggest we should stop shopping at Freeman’s mall are the ones who need their motives examined. Freeman’s fights over light rail, parking fees and every other device used by those who wage their war on cars campaign, has always been a battle for free markets, economic freedom and personal mobility. AND we are all better off for it.
