sisley

i was talking to this guy karl, who comes to the pool.
i had never really talked to him before.
then a week or so ago i ran into him at a kirkland bar called Lucky 7.

we were talking about, john, the owner of the pool i work at.
about how he owns, 1 million dollars worth of property in just that half a block area.

but karl said that was nothing.
his family owns a large portion of ravenna.

i knew his dad owns that fruit stand and the hardware store there on 65th and 15th. in addition to that his the family owns that barber shop right there and all the other run-down buildings in that general area.

then, come to find out, hugh sisley, john's brother owns roughly 170 homes in the ravenna area. that one recent gun bust that i posted on the forums a while ago was owned by that guy.

i always wondered why the pool was so shitty, but i guess there is a mentality that runs in the family.
here's an excerpt from this article:

"Sisley started out decades ago buying up properties by working three jobs at a time, Vogel said. "He's land-rich, cash-poor. And the way he's been able to pay for it is to rent them out without having to make improvements to the properties."

i had heard rumors that ravenna wasn't much of a good place to live, but i never thought so, just below that quote above is this:

"Vogel [the attorney] said Sisley typically rents the houses at "well below the market" rate to a single individual who then sublets rooms or apartments to poor people who are often sick or disabled.
The Roosevelt Neighborhood Association, Vogel said, 'doesn't like the fact that there are people of lower income in the neighborhood.'"

but if that weren't enough. it seems like this guy is somewhat of a slumlord.

"Agents removed about 100 firearms from his home, one of many dilapidated homes that Gilbert managed for Seattle landlord Hugh Sisley. Some have accused Gilbert of managing them through fear, intimidation and frivolous lawsuits.
'He was a thug, hired ... to keep the neighborhood and the tenants and everybody else under control,' said Susan Baker, former president of the Roosevelt Neighborhood Association.
Baker and the neighborhood association were frequently at odds with Sisley and Gilbert over the condition of his dozens of properties around Northeast 65th Street, roughly bounded by Roosevelt Way Northeast and Brooklyn Avenue Northeast.
'He's a bully,' Baker said of Gilbert. 'Very scary. Conducting surveillance throughout the neighborhood. Watching what everybody does. Dogs that are there to strike fear into the hearts of people.' (Seattle Animal Control took Gilbert's German shepherd Blondie away Tuesday.)
'If you complained about the condition of a house,' there were consequences, Baker said. 'And he (Gilbert) had his henchmen, too.'"

i guess where we lived, we were just outside the range of his shitty houses.
but geez. i never knew that my boss had so much pull.
what's even more crazy is when you see this.

i wonder if lea and leanora's place is owned by him ;)