Wanting to relocate to Seattle (violent crime, neighborhoods, living in)

[seattle hotel girl]

I would say Ballard 1st and Queen Anne 2nd. There is plenty to do in Seattle. I think you will love it!

[Molli]

Originally Posted by seattle hotel girl

I would say Ballard 1st and Queen Anne 2nd. There is plenty to do in Seattle. I think you will love it!

Thank you. I'm trying to keep up my excitement level about making the decision to move to Seattle. After joining the boards here and seeing all the negative comments about Seattle I began to wonder if I made the wrong decision, and of course its not too late to change my mind. But I've decided to keep my hopes up and do this and I, too, think I will love it!

[Seacove]

Originally Posted by Molli

Thank you. I'm trying to keep up my excitement level about making the decision to move to Seattle. After joining the boards here and seeing all the negative comments about Seattle I began to wonder if I made the wrong decision, and of course its not too late to change my mind. But I've decided to keep my hopes up and do this and I, too, think I will love it!

I'm sorry you've had to see so many negative comments. There are a handful of posters, several of which that no longer live here, that post negative comments on the Seattle board obsessively. They think it's their duty to warn everyone else of their bad experience because they were unhappy. Judging by their negativity, I'm inclined to think it wasn't Seattle that caused their unhappiness, but a new poster won't have seen all that. It can make the Seattle board a real bummer sometimes and I think that's their goal.

We fell in love with Seattle the first day we came and that was a couple decades ago. I travel a lot for work and still think there's no place like it. Best of luck to you!

P.S. It does rain and is overcast in the winter. No one hides this fact, no one says it's less than it is. So if that bothers you, it will probably not be a good fit.

[mrman78]

I love living on top of Queen Anne hill! It's within walking distance of the dt core and many parks/viewpoints. It's also pretty equidistant to Capitol Hill, Ballard, Fremont, Magnolia/Discovery Park, Green Lake and the University District - all within 5 miles. I can't really imagine living anywhere else in Seattle for now!

[Molli]

Originally Posted by mrman78

I love living on top of Queen Anne hill! It's within walking distance of the dt core and many parks/viewpoints. It's also pretty equidistant to Capitol Hill, Ballard, Fremont, Magnolia/Discovery Park, Green Lake and the University District - all within 5 miles. I can't really imagine living anywhere else in Seattle for now!

A couple of people have suggested Queen Anne, but then yesterday or the day before I saw a post that said Queen Anne north only has one main street of industry (ie shops, restaurants, etc.) and the rest was mostly housing. I want to be able to walk to bunches of places. I will have a car but don't want to have to drive 5 miles to shops and restaurants. I already live in suburbia and trying to get into a much more urban environment. Would you agree with the other posters comments about upper Queen Anne?

[JBVirtuoso]

Originally Posted by Molli

A couple of people have suggested Queen Anne, but then yesterday or the day before I saw a post that said Queen Anne north only has one main street of industry (ie shops, restaurants, etc.) and the rest was mostly housing. I want to be able to walk to bunches of places. I will have a car but don't want to have to drive 5 miles to shops and restaurants. I already live in suburbia and trying to get into a much more urban environment. Would you agree with the other posters comments about upper Queen Anne?

If you're looking for an urban environment, Upper Queen Anne isn't it. The most urban part of Queen Anne is the bit around Mercer and Queen Anne Avenue at the bottom of the hill (Lower Queen Anne). I wouldn't say that Lower blows Upper out of the water in terms of amenities, but it does have much better bus service and feels more connected to the rest of the city.

Take a look at the Google Street View for various neighborhoods and see if they're urban enough for you. Here's are a few examples: Upper Queen Anne, Lower Queen Anne, Ballard, Fremont, and Capitol Hill. Aside from visiting these places, this is the best way to get a sense for what these neighborhoods are like.


Honestly, Seattle isn't a very urban city. Cities like New York, Chicago, DC, and Boston have suburbs that are more built up and have more amenities than Seattle neighborhoods. Aside from the downtown area, the areas I mentioned above, and a few other pockets here and there, most of Seattle is dominated by single family homes and stores with parking lots. But what that means is that Seattle streets are generally tree-lined and free of trash, which in my mind, makes it okay that you might have to walk past a few no-man's-land parking lots to get around.

If you have a car, the amenities of Queen Anne should be enough. I live in Upper Queen Anne without a car, and I'm mostly content with what's here. My only real complaints are that the area lacks bars (there are only a handful) and bus service in the neighborhood is really only effective for commuting downtown. Queen Anne is near many great neighborhoods, but the bus routes won't take you to them easily. With a car, that shouldn't be much of a problem for you.

[Molli]

Originally Posted by JBVirtuoso

Take a look at the Google Street View for various neighborhoods and see if they're urban enough for you. Here's are a few examples: Upper Queen Anne, Lower Queen Anne, Ballard, Fremont, and Capitol Hill. Aside from visiting these places, this is the best way to get a sense for what these neighborhoods are like.


Honestly, Seattle isn't a very urban city. Cities like New York, Chicago, DC, and Boston have suburbs that are more built up and have more amenities than Seattle neighborhoods. Aside from the downtown area, the areas I mentioned above, and a few other pockets here and there, most of Seattle is dominated by single family homes and stores with parking lots. But what that means is that Seattle streets are generally tree-lined and free of trash, which in my mind, makes it okay that you might have to walk past a few no-man's-land parking lots to get around.

I checked out the links and I hope I don't insult any locals but they all look the same to me! :shoc ked: Edit: I've spent a little more time on the links and Ballard looks like it has a much bigger district for shopping, eating, etc. Can you see highrises from this area?

Tell me about downtown? I want to ultimately find a really nice modern high rise condo to live in. I'm done with single family home living. I know I need to take a trip up there to see these neighborhoods for myself.

[JBVirtuoso]

Originally Posted by Molli

I checked out the links and I hope I don't insult any locals but they all look the same to me! :shoc ked:

Tell me about downtown? I want to ultimately find a really nice modern high rise condo to live in. I'm done with single family home living. I know I need to take a trip up there to see these neighborhoods for myself.

You should look around in those neighborhoods a bit before declaring them all the same - you can "drive" with the arrow buttons and pan with your mouse. I simply meant those links as starting points.

Downtown is great, and if I had sufficient income, I'd consider living there myself. The rents are expensive, especially if you have a car - renting a parking space usually costs around $150-200/month. The rent for a luxury 1BR apartment in a downtown highrise will probably be in the $1600-1800 range. But aside from that, downtown has a lot to offer. Focus your search on the area with the diagonal street grid. This area has good bus service to virtually all parts of the region, and downtown itself has numerous high-end restaurants and bars, if that's what you're after.

My personal quibbles with downtown are 1) the lack of good grocery options, and 2) too many pretentious restaurants and not enough cheap places with quality food. The grocery options improved when the Whole Foods opened at Denny and Westlake, but that's the only full service grocery store in the downtown area. There are a few smaller convenience store-type places scattered around, but they're a bit pricey and have poor selection. Going to Safeway or QFC will require a trip to Queen Anne or Capitol Hill.

As for the restaurants, this is really just a symptom of the economic conditions downtown. The restaurants fall into two categories: expensive places where people go out for business lunches or bring guests, and cheap terrible places for the stingy folk who find themselves downtown. It's similar to most of America's downtowns in that regard. I'd say the restaurant options downtown are improving, but casual neighborhood joints are more my taste.

Some of the questions you're asking are confusing me a bit. Have you lived in a large city before? If not, have you traveled to a lot of cities to know the differences between living downtown and living in an urban neighborhood? Do you have an example of a neighborhood or downtown area of another city that you like? I'm just trying to get a better sense of what exactly you're looking for.

[lucy1965]

Originally Posted by Molli

I have been living in Northern Utah for about 7 years and absolutely can't stand the conservative Mormon culture here.

If it's not impertinent, whereabouts, generally? I'm in the 9th and 9th District in Salt Lake, but we've just accepted an offer on our house and, if all goes well, will be in Seattle by the end of February (Fremont or the older part of Bellevue, depending on which side of the Lake the job is on).

[Molli]

Originally Posted by JBVirtuoso

Some of the questions you're asking are confusing me a bit. Have you lived in a large city before? If not, have you traveled to a lot of cities to know the differences between living downtown and living in an urban neighborhood? Do you have an example of a neighborhood or downtown area of another city that you like? I'm just trying to get a better sense of what exactly you're looking for.

Sorry for the confusion; perhaps I haven't used the correct terminology. I've spent a lot of time in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, NYC and Los Angeles. I love all of those cities - my favorite is NYC, but that City is not within the realm of possibilities for me right now. I see a LOT of postings about restaurants. I've been there done that to the point where I'm sick of it!! I've probably dined at some of the best restaurants in this country. Dining out is no longer much of an entertainment focus for me. I just don't enjoy spending hours in a fancy restaurant feeding my face anymore! I do enjoy having a great park nearby, museums, all sorts of live entertainment (including street people entertainment), art galleries, sculpture gardens, higher education institutions that offer classes for adults, nice bars, nice dance clubs, great shopping, opportunities for a variety of volunteer work, beautiful architecture, a great city lights view at nite from my residence. My list is endless. I can literally spend hours walking around getting a sore neck from looking up at all the tall buildings and people watching. I also like having the great outdoors nearby, whether it be water or mountains -- I plan to spend time enjoying both. The outdoors is where I tend to want to be when I need to regroup. I absolutely do not want to feel as though I'm living in the suburbs anymore.