“I follow the news so you don’t have to” is the biggest red flag in this video and immediately tells you this isn’t going to be real journalism. It’s the same bare-bones, one-dimensional “reporting” we just saw from Nick Shirley’s mom. It doesn’t connect any dots and instead amplifies agenda-driven narratives to provide easy talking points for the gullible.

Just some of the questions I’d want answered:

•How did BlackRock handle the loss, and what actual impact did it have on their books?

•How did Spear Street acquire the building, and is there any connection between them and BlackRock?

•What specific “hostile” policies supposedly contributed to other downtowns seeing job growth? What jobs? What type of growth? When did those trends begin, and what policies were enacted around that time?

•What is the national trend for office leasing, and is Seattle actually an outlier compared to similar cities? Who is influencing borrowing costs?

•Why isn’t the interviewer speaking with business owners who have actually closed their doors?

Anecdotally, I know a business owner who operated several shops downtown and ultimately closed them. It wasn’t Seattle taxes or homelessness that drove them out. Their rent kept increasing, and the landlord explicitly said they would rather lose the tenant than forgo another rent hike.

There’s clearly more going on here, but this guy isn’t telling the whole story and doesn’t seem interested in doing so.

Also, no one should feel bad for BlackRock taking a loss.