Is there a big "unspoken" reason why a lot of people move to the Seattle area? (Tacoma: sales, how much)
Seattle areaSeattle and King County Suburbs
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Seattle may have a high ratio of white to other groups, compared to other cities in the U.S., but it has a high Asian population, and the Hispanic population is growing. Wikipedia 2010 numbers:
According to the 2010 census, Seattle had a population of 608,660 and the racial composition was as follows:[191]
White: 69.5% (Non-Hispanic Whites: 66.3%)
Asian: 13.8% (4.1% Chinese, 2.6% Filipino, 2.2% Vietnamese, 1.3% Japanese, 1.1% Korean, 0.8% Indian, 0.3% Cambodian, 0.3% Laotian, 0.2% Thai)
Black or African American: 7.9%
American Indian and Alaska Native: 0.8%
Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander: 0.4%
Other race: 2.4%
Two or more races: 5.1%
Hispanic or Latino (of any race): 6.6% (4.1% Mexican, 0.3% Puerto Rican, 0.2% Guatemalan, 0.2% Salvadoran, 0.2% Cuban)
I moved to Seattle exactly one week ago today. I moved because my only grandchild moved here last October. His step-father accepted a job in Everett and his mom quickly found a job in Seattle. I also have other family who have lived here since the 1960's. I like it here because it is so green, beautiful, everywhere you go you're in the forest, drivers are polite and let you in, you can be in the city where there is everything or out in the country where you're more alone and the drive from one to another is close, the views of the mountains, oceans, lakes, trees, parks, farms, are breathtaking and because it's almost always a good day to snuggle up in front of the fire! And.... there is so much to do here.
Actually, 'those' types of people do consider Washington state, Oregon too. My personal repellance for happy-go-lucky melanin-haters aside, why do you practice intolerance for others and their views? Shouldn't you adopt a more accepting behavior concerning the mis-guided and malfeasant? Would not exposure to your concepts foster a better understanding and bridge the hate? Silence can be just as powerful as noise, invisibilty more ominous than apparent columns.
Subtlety leads to complacency which leads to hubris. Once, diversity was celebrated until entropy begat its usual effects and made the enlightened mind become that which they say they hate: closed and inhospitable. Besides, ignorance is for the weak and a strong, diverse community will overcome adversity based on hate without fact. Despite themselves, people change. No one should be herded anywhere at anytime for ANY reason. History has taught us the consequences of that practice.
I mean, really? "Whiteland"? A troll or a mis-spent basement-dweller full of someone else's rhetorical intoxicants all bullied-up on their own righteousness aimed to inform the citizens all about 'them'.
ca_north, I'm not sure the exact reason for the vehicle. I think it was mainly emissions--something like an emission inspection is required for all cars on the roads in the entirety of CA, but in WA only in King/Pierce/Snohomish counties. The car would've had to be used on a track only if it stayed in CA. Does this sound about right?
As for the other reason you mentioned for considering a move--diversity, it is big in the cities, but not big in numbers in the rural areas--but the small amount is very visible.
In the cities, you would be getting something of everything--black, asian, middle eastern and hispanic. In the small towns the hispanic populations are the primary minority and are increasing (mostly from Mexico, Guatemala and El Salvador). Washington is a sanctuary state and is one of two states that issues driver's licenses to illegal aliens. There are small advocacy groups here that hamstring immigration officials. As with many parts of the country there seems to be a portion of the population that doesn't want to assimilate. So even for a small, country town like Forks you now have special Hispanic market stores and dual labeling in the grocery store, self-segregating neighborhoods, impacts to the schools--the kids get exposure to English at school but Spanish outside. Buddies of mine played in the town soccer teams in Port Angeles and the hispanics wouldn't play on other teams, but instead formed their own, wouldn't attend the gatherings held for all the teams. Tend to be very self-excluding(?) in the community.
Yes, as happens so often when crime or poverty rises "unexpectedly" in some random community it's due to that influx, but it can't be mentioned specifically, lest the R-word be brought against those who mention it. There needs to be a serious understanding that people are judged on their behaviors and impacts on a region more than anything.
For example, I don't "get" Asian culture, but they tend to improve the standing of an area, even if they also tend to huddle and become insular. I'll take that over a general decline any day.
King County and several other counties in Washington are hardly "white land" anymore and the state becomes more diverse by the day. I hear many different languages spoken on any given day. Also most of the whites in Seattle are very progressive and liberal so your views might be outside of the norm.
When I lived in CA, the conservative whites who were looking to "escape" diversity weren't even considering Washington State. They were going to places like Idaho, Montana, Texas and the Midwest. If I were you I would consider those places first.
I'm one of those apparently rare people who despises right-wingers (because of their greedy anti-environmental views, which I consider planetary suicide) but I also can't handle being around too many "ethnic" types. It's about how they conduct themselves with noise and crime, more than skin color. I went to a major university with tons of diversity and handled it fine in that context, but it wasn't a realistic view of how people live in most cities.
I have no problem with humble, peace-respecting people of any color, but sufficient numbers of dregs spoil that image. I think we're probably all more forgiving of bad behavior when it's our own race; I consider that part of biology, whether good or bad. Xenophobia seems like a genetic trait that is hard to kick and maybe should just be acknowledged.
RE Idaho and Montana, there's also the matter of avoiding overly harsh winters, and finding tech-related jobs, which small towns don't offer as many choices in. Sandpoint is a nice looking place and I checked out Missoula once, but they've got limited job potential.
RE Idaho and Montana, there's also the matter of avoiding overly harsh winters, and finding tech-related jobs, which small towns don't offer as many choices in. Sandpoint is a nice looking place and I checked out Missoula once, but they've got limited job potential.
This is a question to ponder; the bulk of tech jobs tend to be in what could be described as "blue" areas. So people such as yourself come to places like here because you want the jobs, then you tend to endlessly complain about the area. Aren't there tech jobs in places like Texas? Or San Diego? (That's rhetorical, I know there are.) Wouldn't it be better if people that would be happier in a more conservative location started working toward perhaps strengthening industries in those locations so you could have both the jobs and the more conservative environment? It's like putting square pegs in round holes. They cram themselves in and constantly complain about the fit. It's something I wonder about almost as much as why someone would move to Seattle who hates the rain.
This is a question to ponder; the bulk of tech jobs tend to be in what could be described as "blue" areas. So people such as yourself come to places like here because you want the jobs, then you tend to endlessly complain about the area. Aren't there tech jobs in places like Texas? Or San Diego? (That's rhetorical, I know there are.) Wouldn't it be better if people that would be happier in a more conservative location started working toward perhaps strengthening industries in those locations so you could have both the jobs and the more conservative environment? It's like putting square pegs in round holes. They cram themselves in and constantly complain about the fit. It's something I wonder about almost as much as why someone would move to Seattle who hates the rain.
Tech jobs are centered around large metropolitan areas; that those areas would vote blue is just a byproduct, not a causation of having many tech jobs. For the record, there aren't many tech jobs in San Diego unless you want to work with either the government or Qualcomm. One company does not a tech sector make. Seattle and San Francisco positioned themselves as the tech hubs of this nation not as a result of politics, but as a result of the proximity to universities that produce top tech level talent (Silicon Valley, thanks in large part to Stanford and Cal Tech) and a seed organization that just happened to start within the other (Microsoft in Seattle).
See, this goes back into the extreme of either side of the aisle wanting to segregate those who don't think as they do politically (and you are one of the worst I've ever seen on this topic) rather than accept a diversity of beliefs.
Tech jobs are centered around large metropolitan areas; that those areas would vote blue is just a byproduct, not a causation of having many tech jobs. For the record, there aren't many tech jobs in San Diego unless you want to work with either the government or Qualcomm. One company does not a tech sector make. Seattle and San Francisco positioned themselves as the tech hubs of this nation not as a result of politics, but as a result of the proximity to universities that produce top tech level talent (Silicon Valley, thanks in large part to Stanford and Cal Tech) and a seed organization that just happened to start within the other (Microsoft in Seattle).
See, this goes back into the extreme of either side of the aisle wanting to segregate those who don't think as they do politically (and you are one of the worst I've ever seen on this topic) rather than accept a diversity of beliefs.
There are universities in Texas and San Diego, you're selling them short. It has been suggested that creative industries require a more liberal mindset, or that conservatism stifles creativity. Wouldn't it be interesting to prove them wrong? You're saying you only want to be where the jobs already are. Why not work to strengthen tech jobs in places like Texas, San Diego and North Carolina and see if it prospers? See if a conservative environment can successfully grow tech? Attract venture capital? It would be interesting to watch and see how it plays out.
People such as yourself come to these blue areas and complain but the areas were as they are when you got here and the very nature of these environments are what attracted the type of people that would want to come here. When Google, eBay, Facebook, Salesforce, Zynga, etc. all come here from the Bay Area, it is for many reasons, not just Microsoft. They could have chosen other locations but they didn't. Would those companies consider a more conservative location? It would be interesting to find out.
RE Idaho and Montana, there's also the matter of avoiding overly harsh winters, and finding tech-related jobs, which small towns don't offer as many choices in. Sandpoint is a nice looking place and I checked out Missoula once, but they've got limited job potential.
Well, maybe the greater Seattle area, specifically the 'Eastside' would be an area you would be a bit more interested in. I've known a more than a few that have lived in Redmond, Issaquah, Kirkland, Bellevue and Newcastle because the area isn't quite as liberal as Seattle, just a little warmer, plenty of tech jobs, still had stuff to do and the minority factor was more to their preference.
The area still had the western Washington weather, so not a harsh winter and summer time temps would be just a few degrees warmer than Seattle. And for summer, Eastern Washington was that much closer of a drive away.
The area tends to be more politically centered--rural WA tends to be very red and the bible thumping might get to you, but Seattle is the left and dreamy hippies might be too much. It might be kind of a Goldilock's porridge.
That area tends to be priced high enough and the development is new enough that I don't really hear of too many 'ghetto' references like I do for Seattle and Tacoma.
I think the major minority groups in the area are Indian and Eastern European (more minority culture than race)--Russian/Latvian/Lithuanian seem to be the ones I remember mentioned most. Most of the the people I knew that lived over there were younger 25-35 year old single women, college grad/career oriented, a little posh and snobby but not horrible. They would mention often about how they chose to live there instead of the other side of the lake due to things like being able to go into a club for a drink and not have lots of black guys constantly telling them about love at first sight, or being able to go to Bellevue Square for shopping/movie and not have gangbangers sitting on their cars making sexual comments when they came out.
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