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When moving West, make sure you chose the city that *speaks* to you the most. If, for you, that's Seattle, then move there. If it's Portland, move there. Trust you gut.
As I attempted to express in the initial post, the natural landscape, surrounding environs, weather, clean air, etc. are exactly why we are moving there. You consider them "B" cities, but I personally would never want to live in any of the so-called "A" cities (I'm assuming you mean Chicago, New York, Washington D.C., etc.). I want some of the benefits of a big city (good public transit, options for arts, e.g. youth symphony, good jobs) without the cons that come with the bigger cities (high pollution, high crime, etc.).
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...but I wouldn't move to the Northwest without a love for the landscape of the mountains and forests and sea, because that's the main attraction overall.
That that's the main attraction is exactly why we want to move there.
Last edited by ForestDenizen; 06-27-2014 at 10:01 PM..
I know what you mean, but remember we are talking about the USA here. There are really only a handful of cities with real urban excitement: NYC, Chicago, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Boston, and DC. Other cities like New Orleans, Miami and Vegas have good nightlife, but I wouldn't say they have "urban excitement" necessarily.
We have little interest in that kind of "urban excitement". We want a beautiful natural setting with low pollution, good schools, low crime, good jobs, etc. Aside from San Francisco I've spent a significant amount of time in the cities you mention and I would never want to live there. To each his own.
Yes, I have to say that despite the many favorable Seattle recommendations, I'm tilting slightly towards Portland. Portland has a small-town meets big city appeal that I like very much. It strikes me as a city you don't have to think about much. It has what you need and no more. I dig Seattle too, but it just seems complicated. "Where do I live in Seattle?" I ask, and "it depends on where you work" is the general reply. In Portland, pick, say Laurelhurst and you have 3 MAX lines (taking you all the way out to Intel in Hillsboro, if need be), bike lanes galore, your daily needs served by a short walk. Laurelhurst is upscale, but the houses cost $500,000, not $750,000. It seems like a lot of the Seattle jobs are in Bellevue or Redmond, so if you want to live downtown you are looking at a 30 minute to 1 hour transit time. That doesn't sound fun to me. In Portland, everything seems to be more centralized downtown. Let me know if I'm off-base.
Also, I've spoken with many Pacific-Northwesterners and there seems to be a general "feeling" that Portland gets more sun than Seattle (and no fog). Do you think that's true?
In Portland, everything seems to be more centralized downtown. Let me know if I'm off-base.
It's not that Portland has more going on downtown, it's just that there's so much going on within Seattle as well as it's neighboring cities. Portland is very like able, but its metro region is not as robust as Seattle's, with Bellevue possibly competing with Portland someday for economic centralization, let alone against Seattle city proper.
If the buzz of business doesn't matter to you, then either city works fine.
It's not that Portland has more going on downtown, it's just that there's so much going on within Seattle as well as it's neighboring cities. Portland is very like able, but its metro region is not as robust as Seattle's, with Bellevue possibly competing with Portland someday for economic centralization, let alone against Seattle city proper.
If the buzz of business doesn't matter to you, then either city works fine.
But Bellevue pretty much requires a car, right? I'm going solely by getting the walkscore of houses I looked at there. It seems like almost all of the tech jobs I've seen are in those cities, yet they have very low walkscores, which to me indicates that they don't have much going on there aside from business. Is that true?
Also, I've spoken with many Pacific-Northwesterners and there seems to be a general "feeling" that Portland gets more sun than Seattle (and no fog). Do you think that's true?
If you're not from Western PNW, you're not going to notice the difference. It's a mere bit more, and can be proven statistically... but of course it's a lot to those folks, not so much to outsiders. Of course, there are some differences (Portland gets serious ice storms, Seattle not as much. Both suck at handling snow, thanks to the many hills)... but otherwise it's same type of climate.
But Bellevue pretty much requires a car, right? I'm going solely by getting the walkscore of houses I looked at there. It seems like almost all of the tech jobs I've seen are in those cities, yet they have very low walkscores, which to me indicates that they don't have much going on there aside from business. Is that true?
While Bellevue is more car central than Seattle, it does have streams of buses going to Seattle and around town. It doesn't really have the "urban villages" setup like in Seattle Proper. It's a suburb with a busy downtown core (its the 2nd most urban city in WA).
I don't know if this makes a difference, but there's trails and parks close to every home in Bellevue. And there's a always community center nearby.
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