Seattle has won the Super Bowl, embraced marijuana as a cultural norm, and is a coffee hotspot; it’s no surprise that people want to live here. However, in recent years, the Emerald City has experienced the largest population boom of any major U.S. city, leaving Seattle to handle its rising population in the best way it can. The residential influx is already proving beneficial to the city, as well as problematic. The increase raises questions regarding the city’s public transportation and preservation of historic Seattle buildings. Perhaps more immediately pressing is the increase in the number of children attending public school. Public schools in Seattle are finding they have too many students per school, and not much room to expand. According to King 5 News, the boom can likely be partially attributed to the fact that Seattle is now a magnet for Internet jobs. Executive Director of the Museum of History and Industry Leonard Garfield told King 5 that the movement could probably be called Seattle 3.0. “This is our third golden age of growth, we saw this during the Gold Rush of the 1890’s, we saw it in the years after World War II, and [we’re] seeing it again, largely due to the internet economy,” he said. Thousands of people have been attracted to Seattle for jobs at Amazon, and other companies of a similar strand also find the area attractive because cost of living is relatively cheap compared to other big cities or Silicon Valley. Still, building among buildings means that a couple things are threatened—historic establishments and prized scenic marine views. Companies are trying to preserve the older bottom floors of Seattle’s older buildings and build new space on top of it. This is a difficult architectural feat to accomplish, but provides a compromise for maximizing the space and preserving the older structures. “I think the labor community should be proud of what they did here 100 years ago, just like the development community is proud we are preserving and building here,” said Roger Valdez, Director of Smart Growth Seattle to King 5 News. Historic buildings are technically protected by the city of Seattle as historic landmarks, but if the people who want to develop them also clean the site, the exchange will be made, helping to add space for Seattle’s increasing population. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Seattle’s population increased by 2.8 percent this past year. From 2000 until 2013, it has increased by 15.8 percent, 7.2 percent of that change happening since 2010. This drastic increase is spelling out trouble for Seattle Public Schools, and forcing them to get as creative as possible when figuring out how to make enough room for all of their students. Enrollment for the 2014-2015 school year is up by 1,300, meaning some students and even entire grades are being relocated in order to make the population balance out within the district. In addition to moving the students, Seattle Public Schools is also approaching the problem by using as many rooms as possible, adding more portables, and repurposing other buildings. Seattle Public Schools is currently focusing on redistricting middle and elementary schools, waiting to consider high schools later. This redrawing of borders affects schools close to Seattle University such as Lowell Elementary. “School boundaries need to be adjusted to accommodate enrollment growth and new school construction that will occur over the next few years. Work on new Growth Boundaries began last spring,” said the website for Seattle Public Schools. “At the November 20 School Board meeting, the Board approved various boundary changes (Growth Boundaries) for 2014-15 as

the first step in addressing overcrowded schools.” The increase in Seattle population might be manageable in terms of the city’s layout, but it will mean difficulty for the Seattle Public School system in the years to come.