is denny triangle the butthole of seattle?

if we put the city's actions into words, one interpretation of seattle's comprehensive plan could be: lets make denny triangle the butthole of seattle. it's central to most of the places you want to go in downtown but has for decades been an urban wasteland. we want residents to invest in the central hub of seattle, but the butthole denny triangle does not need tower spacing.
in aubrey's PI article about tower spacing, denny triangle is identified at the exclusive urban core neighborhood without residential tower spacing. in the article, Seattle council member Steinbrueck, chair of Seattle's Urban Development and Planning committee, found it "shocking" that the Schnitzer tower was being built a mere 18 feet away from the cosmo tower. hmmm, i wonder.

lets take a look at the facts:

1) Steinbrueck is chair of Seattle's Urban Development and Planning committee. This is the committee that developed the "Downtown Livability Legislation" that was unanimously approved in April 2006.

2) the revisions to the "Downtown Livability Legislation" that deleted tower spacing from denny triangle are named the "CM Steinbrueck recommendations". coincidence?

3) there's also the time at the city council Budget Committee - Public Hearing 10/30/2007, that i told him personally about the 18 feet between the two buildings.

in the PI article Steinbrueck says, "That just seems unreasonable to me and highly inconsistent with our plan." and "That's precisely the kind of problem we were trying to avoid." well, something doesn't add up when comparing actions with comments.

greg at smarter neighbors has a theory about the lack of attention to how land use legislation plays out. he concludes that "the DPD is just a bureaucratic entity and nobody is leading any kind of land use planning within Seattle’s neighborhoods."

greg believes that "to get the kind of land use planning attention throughout Seattle that the city deserves, that we’re going to have to either change our mayor’s attitudes, or get a new mayor." some speculate that Steinbrueck, whose city council term ends at the end of the month, might run for mayor. i'm not sure if this will help.

having read the Downtown Livability Legislation, i find that it's mostly good. and as i've said before, i'm an advocate of urban density. however, i'd prefer an even playing field with respect to legislation that locates the butthole of seattle.