Anyone from Ohio? (Seattle, Bellevue, Federal Way: live, farm, commute to)

[BigVill]

Man, thanks a lot. You guys need to work for the official Seattle Information Commitee or something. I feel like I am already starting to learn my way around. lol

[allforcats]

Clearly, my friend scirocco has been driven around everywhere here by a driver, in a car with darkly tinted windows :-) Love ya, Scir!

What he failed to mention is that these zillion busses don't just shuttle back and forth from one park-and-ride parking lot, or transit center, to another -- they travel the streets, with stops every few blocks or so, just like in the big cities you and I are used to, except these busses here are much cleaner and the drivers are usually much friendlier (and they are of all ethnic backgrounds :-). And with either a paper transfer or a multi-ride pass, you can get off the bus to stop at McDonald's or the library or whatever, then get back on the bus and continue your trip, or change to another bus. I learned this whole area by bus every weekend for over a year, because the busses do go everywhere, stop by stop.

And thank you for your gracious working suggestion. Actually, scirocco and I are already SIC. Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!

[allforcats]

Ha! I've just proved myself brilliant in my incessant avoidance of Puyallup!

You HAVE to live in Kirkland or north Bellevue because:
- you will work in Kirkland, which is a much prettier and MUCH more intellectually stimulating environment than Puyallup, and if you live near the office you will avoid most of the slow-moving commuters who will take the roads that go to Seattle or to the Microsoft campuses;
- depending on where your home is, you could even save gas and money by taking the METRO bus to and from the office, thus giving yourself a relaxing commute which will then nourish your spirit and enchance every aspect of your life;
- you will have close access to every bus that will take you to downtown Seattle to all the stadiums and arenas;
- if you choose north Bellevue instead of Kirkland as your residence, you can send your children to the excellent Bellevue schools, although the Kirkland schools are reportedly also quite fine;
- you will have access to every manner of place to spend your money, engage your mind, engage your artistic and mystical nature, and thus stimulate all that in your children.

AHA!!! Thank you thank you :-)

[BigVill]

Originally Posted by allforcats

Ha! I've just proved myself brilliant in my incessant avoidance of Puyallup!

You HAVE to live in Kirkland or north Bellevue because:
- you will work in Kirkland, which is a much prettier and MUCH more intellectually stimulating environment than Puyallup, and if you live near the office you will avoid most of the slow-moving commuters who will take the roads that go to Seattle or to the Microsoft campuses;
- depending on where your home is, you could even save gas and money by taking the METRO bus to and from the office, thus giving yourself a relaxing commute which will then nourish your spirit and enchance every aspect of your life;
- you will have close access to every bus that will take you to downtown Seattle to all the stadiums and arenas;
- if you choose north Bellevue instead of Kirkland as your residence, you can send your children to the excellent Bellevue schools, although the Kirkland schools are reportedly also quite fine;
- you will have access to every manner of place to spend your money, engage your mind, engage your artistic and mystical nature, and thus stimulate all that in your children.

AHA!!! Thank you thank you :-)

HaHa, I just had a picture in my mind of you saying all of that as Homer Simpson's boss. I forget his name and I don't know why I pictured that.lol

So the Metro buses go to Puyallup too, right? And when will this light rail that I read about be ready and where will it go?

I don't know if you guys have ever seen the movie time machine, but you both remind me of the 7 up guys character. He was a computer program who could just rattle off any information instantly. You guys are good!

[scirocco22]

No, no, I think cats misinterpreted the special bus service to and from the Seahawks games.

The Seahawks actually pay Metro for this service and collect a premium fare for a non-stop ride from the aforementioned P&Rs and Transit Centers. You park your car and are whisked into the International District (adjacent to Qwest Field) and after the game, you board buses back to those specific Park and Rides for a non-stop ride. I think it's $3.00 one way with no Metro passes or transfers given or accepted. They're the same Metro buses that are used in regular service with Metro operators driving them. It's just that they seem friendlier because they are usually making big-bucks overtime on their day off.

No, Metro buses do not go to Puyallup. That's in Pierce County. Right now, I don't believe there is any direct bus service into Seattle from Puyallup without transfering. The Sounder train does go into Puyallup from Seattle, however.

[allforcats]

That's us, we rattle all the time! Hahahaha!

And thank you for your vast personal compliment. I am indeed honored to be considered akin to Homer Simpson's boss. WOW!!!!!!!!!

Point of correction: the METRO bus system does not go to Puyallup. NOBODY goes to Puyallup. (Sorry, inside joke :-) METRO services King County only, which is HUGE, going north, east and south of downtown Seattle.

Puyallup is not in King County, but is in Pierce County which contains Tacoma. Puyallup is tangentially served by Pierce Transit, which does not have a whole lot of routes or busses, certainly not compared with METRO. That's because Puyallup and surrounding areas were dairy farms until recently, and this being "the west" folks relied on individual transportation, and taxation hasn't caught up with all the new housing developments in order to provide all the swell citified needs of everyone. So folks in Puyallup drive everywhere.

However, scirocco mentioned Sound Transit -- which is some sort of, as yet, confusing attempt to unify the entire area of northwestern Washington by some sort of megatransit system. Again, money is hard to find so it's taking quite a while to come up with funding. Sound Transit can be found at Sound Transit
Sound Transit has many long-distance busses, most of which DON'T stop along the streets (except in Bellevue, where they do). They also have the train that scirocco mentioned, which meanders here and there in an attempt to connect Seattle with faraway places in the south, for the rush hour traffic. Friends of mine who use
"the Sounder" as it's called love it. It is comfy. The train takes, what? an hour from Puyallup? And an hour back. I believe it travels on Amtrak/Burlington Northern tracks, right Scir?

Here is the website for a MAP for the Sounder; it's an adobe doc: http://www.soundtransit.org/document...mmapSept06.pdf

You asked about light rail. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha. Oh, sorry, you're from out of state. :-) Yeah, we're going to get light rail all right, if you can lift up some of those pigs you glued wings onto. Ha ha ha ha ha. Don't hold your breath, and don't count on it. Don't even think about it. You might grow old waiting for it. Scir, shall we tell BigVill about how they built the METRO tunnel in downtown Seattle, complete with light rail rails -- and then discovered they'd put the rails in too close to each other, and had to close the tunnel for two years to rip up the rails and lay them correctly, forcing all the masses of people who use the METRO busses to somehow scatter like army ants on the streets above? And how many tens of millions of dollars did they throw away in the process? Nah, let's not tell him - he might think local government doesn't know what it's doing. Hahahahahahaha!!!

Small point: betcha don't know how to pronounce Puyallup!! Nobody does! Haha! No actually it's pew-al (a as in at, pat, vast) -up.

[scirocco22]

Just like the darn Nevada issue I've been dealing with, it's probably better just to "hear" it:

Merriam-Webster Pronunciation of Puyallup





Local government not know what they're doing?! *hoh* ...how dare you say that!

[BigVill]

The two of you need your own show on Seattle Public Access Tv. You actually are teaching me a lot though.

So, if I want to be able to use the bus I need to choose Kirkland, however Kirkland may cost twice as much as Puyallup to live in, so I may actually need the bus because I will be too poor to put gas into my car. Or I could choose Puyallup and take the train that takes 1 hour to travel 35 miles. Since "nobody goes to Puyallup", there obviously must be something wrong with it, so I may be back to square one. I have learned the difference between King and Pierce county, and that the local leadership seems to make numerous mistakes. I know how to get to a Seahawks game. I know that the light rail will not be an actual option for quite a while. And I know that people of all races can live anywhere, which was my original concern.

You guys are great!

So how bout Kent?

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by BigVill

...if I want to be able to use the bus I need to choose Kirkland

Seriously, play with MLSonline.com -- if you fiddle with the parameters, and make charts, and compare, I think you'll find homes your family could love in the Kirkland, Bellevue, Redmond area. Ooops, I threw in yet another town, Redmond. Redmond has the headquarters of Microsoft. Redmond, Bellevue and Kirkland are all connected, physically; it's impossible to tell where one ends and the next begins. They're all gentle, treed places to live and they'd all be near the Kirkland office. All three have lively community activities and shopping centers, plus constant and varied access to METRO to get you to all the pro games you'd want.

Originally Posted by BigVill

Since "nobody goes to Puyallup", there obviously must be something wrong with it.

Well, it's very pretty. Until very recently it was dairy farms, and pig farms, and so forth. Unless you and your family are profoundly into meditation and reading, you seem too cultured and intellectually active to be satisfied in a cookie cutter house near nothing, including public transportation... Y'know how big cities have a distinctive "personality" to them? Well, there's no there there...

Originally Posted by BigVill

I know that people of all races can live anywhere, which was my original concern.

Yes. Perfect. Although, since Puyallup used to be farm country, and in parts still is, there might be a lack of sophistication or elegance there.

Originally Posted by BigVill

So how bout Kent?

I don't believe it! :-) Oh sheesh, what can I say without having villagers pounding on my door waving torches? Uhh, Kent has a few nice areas, small ones, which I think are somewhat newer gated communities. That might suggest something to you. If you like to be behind gates, there are some gated communities all around here. One reason Kent elicits such hesitant comments from me is that one hears a lot about crime there in the form of robbery and anti-person violence. We all know there's crime everywhere, but when you hear a town name often enough in the local 6:00 news, you begin to form an opinion. Plus the schools aren't so great -- Kent is a less affluent area, and property taxes contribute mightily to school appropriations.
Kent is in King County, although at the distant southern end, and so does have bus service from METRO. Kent Neighborhood Bus Routes (http://transit.metrokc.gov/tops/bus/neighborhoods/kent.html - broken link)

Next??

[scirocco22]

Probably better to describe Kent as being in south-central King County. The distant sourthern end would more aptly include Federal Way, Algona/Pacific, Auburn, and Enumclaw which are against the southern border of the county.