Otherwise Books — Seattle

First title — May 2026

Why the Rent Is Too Damn High

A plain-language argument for land value taxation — why land rents rise, who captures them, and what a different arrangement might look like. Assembled from eight years of writing about housing, cities, and the hidden geometry of wealth.

Research & Policy

Investigative briefs on land economics, transit policy, and public finance in the Puget Sound region. All sourced from public records. All argued with receipts.

• Moving Money, Not People June 2026 What Sound Transit's fare collection system actually costs — and what to do about it. $17.3M annually, $45.7M committed through 2033, an armored truck on the ferry, and an $83M gates proposal that answers the wrong question.
• A Network Transaction June 2026 A 135-year Seattle property network hiding behind half a dozen corporate entities. Sent to the Seattle Times and GeekWire, June 5, 2026.
• City Hall Incompetence Plaza June 2026 601 Fourth Avenue: demolished 2005, still vacant, land value risen from $16M to $85.7M while the lot sits empty. Sent to the Seattle Times, June 2, 2026.
• The Orca Whales Didn't Hire Toby Thaler May 2026 On transit, land use, and who gets to decide what the region builds and where. Published in The Urbanist, May 2026.
• From the Duwamish to the Dotcom Era: the Value of Seattle's Waterfront May 2026 Land value along Seattle's waterfront corridor — who owns it, what it's assessed at, and what the public built that created it. Sent to Mayor Wilson, Councilmember Mosqueda, and Councilmember Rinck.
• Seattle doesn't have a spending problem: it has a collections problem May 2026 The first Otherwise Books policy brief. Commercial property underassessment as a tax collections failure, not a policy gap. Sent to Mayor Wilson, Councilmember Mosqueda, and Assessor candidate Chris Roberts.

Tools

• Commute calculator

  Compare the true cost of driving versus transit for your commute — time, money, and what you give up either way.

• Assessment data explorer

  King County parcel assessment data. Search by address, owner, or PIN.

Ask the data a question and see where it takes you.

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Occasional updates on land economics, assessment data, and what the numbers show. No marketing. Unsubscribe anytime.

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Noted — we’ll be in touch.