Top 5 Pros & Cons of Seattle (Bellevue, Everett: earthquake, property taxes, cost of living)

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by robertpolyglot

I just love this one. This one will NEVER go away. Another in-towner with the "oh, you live on the Eastide...I'm sorry" mentality. The Eastside is one of my favorite Seattle areas, IMO, which would definitely be better if and when served by rail service to Seattle. There is this conception that Eastside is too conservative, plastic, and cookie-cutter. This vibe is definitely there, that's FOR SURE. Lots of plastic surgeons in Bellevue and Kirkland. However, there is nicer housing stock hidden in way more trees, more places to park, and lots of nice vistas, in addition to intelligent and equally cosmopolitan people. I don't like the older houses in Seattle proper, anything south is not interesting, and up north, really only Edmonds and Mukilteo are nice, though they kind of sit there alone. However, the whole swath of the Eastside is reliably nice.

Not unique to the Eastside. Throughout the CD forums there is a general dislike for any area inhabited by successful people. If you drive a BMW it's because you are trying to impress people, not because you dreamed of one as a kid and can finally afford one. If you buy a McMansion it's because you want to show how rich you are, not because you busted your behind for 30 years and just want to enjoy the fruits of your labor before you die by living it up a bit. A lot of people just assume the worst about such areas. You see this everywhere wealthy people live.

[Apathizer]

Originally Posted by CarawayDJ

Not unique to the Eastside. Throughout the CD forums there is a general dislike for any area inhabited by successful people. If you drive a BMW it's because you are trying to impress people, not because you dreamed of one as a kid and can finally afford one. If you buy a McMansion it's because you want to show how rich you are, not because you busted your behind for 30 years and just want to enjoy the fruits of your labor before you die by living it up a bit. A lot of people just assume the worst about such areas. You see this everywhere wealthy people live.

It's just a completely different mentality for me, and many of us in Seattle. I don't define success as having money, but rather of having a good quality of life. [OK, they can be related, but not in all regards.]

For me, I like being within walking or busing distance of amenities. I love that I've escaped the Great American Burden of being saddled with owning a house, a car, and all the debt that entails.

I hate the necessity of driving almost everywhere inherent to living on the eastside. Yes, it's newer and prettier than Seattle, but it's only beautiful in a gilded sort of way. While there's some diversity, it doesn't compare to Seattle: Good luck finding an Ethiopian Restaurant anywhere on the east side.

While there is certainly an affluent element in Seattle, they're much less ostentatious about it. In Seattle, you're just as likely to see a lawyer in jeans and a t-shirt as you are a barista.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by Apathizer

It's just a completely different mentality for me, and many of us in Seattle. I don't define success as having money, but rather of having a good quality of life. [OK, they can be related, but not in all regards.]

For me, I like being within walking or busing distance of amenities. I love that I've escaped the Great American Burden of being saddled with owning a house, a car, and all the debt that entails.

I hate the necessity of driving almost everywhere inherent to living on the eastside. Yes, it's newer and prettier than Seattle, but it's only beautiful in a gilded sort of way. While there's some diversity, it doesn't compare to Seattle: Good luck finding an Ethiopian Restaurant anywhere on the east side.

While there is certainly an affluent element in Seattle, they're much less ostentatious about it. In Seattle, you're just as likely to see a lawyer in jeans and a t-shirt as you are a barista.

... Such an outdated thought... Seattle is actually whiter than Bellevue. While Bellevue is "lacking" in African Americans, there's more Asians in the Eastside than there is in Seattle (check the 2010 census data if you don't believe it). There's more to diversity than just an Ethiopian restaurant.

[grammyR]

I am just wondering what a " Pagtagonia " is. I don't think we have any in Fl.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by grammyR

I am just wondering what a " Pagtagonia " is. I don't think we have any in Fl.

An outdoor clothing brand. Kinda "high end", usually people wear Northface or Columbia.

[Bill Loney]

Originally Posted by BellevueGuy

Every city has homeless problems but to be frank Seattle is one of the worse ones, given how economically strong the city is.

The problem is that homeless people are everywhere... around Westlake, around Belltown, around Capitol Hill, around downtown Waterfront.

It would be much nicer if we can be like Vancouver where all the junkies are congregated in one area (feel free to hang out with them if you like) and 95% of the downtown is clean.

Homelessness is in Seattle's DNA.

[Bill Loney]

Originally Posted by grammyR

I am just wondering what a " Pagtagonia " is. I don't think we have any in Fl.

It is a high end outdoor clothing line. and one of the world's most beautiful lands.

[CarawayDJ]

Originally Posted by Inkpoe

... Such an outdated thought... Seattle is actually whiter than Bellevue. While Bellevue is "lacking" in African Americans, there's more Asians in the Eastside than there is in Seattle (check the 2010 census data if you don't believe it). There's more to diversity than just an Ethiopian restaurant.

Is it just me, or do a lot of people completely overlook Asians when discussing diversity? An area with Mexicans, Ethiopians, and Iraqis would be considered diverse, but an area with Vietnamese, Korean, and Chinese would not. You see that in other forums as well. I seem to recall someone in the CD San Francisco forums writing how SF is not diverse because it mostly has just white people and Asians

[zutano]

Hi all, new user here. This is kind of a rant - it's something I've wanted to get out of my system for a while. Since weather always seems to be a polarizing topic in any discussion about Seattle, with some people loving it and others thinking that it's hell on earth, I thought I'd try and contribute a more balanced opinion. FYI, I was born and raised in Seattle but have lived on the east coast for several years now. I have also spent extensive time traveling and living overseas (Asia, Africa, and Europe in descending order of time spent), so hopefully I have some perspective on things.

Common complaint: Seattle weather is miserable

Certainly I wouldn't recommend moving to Seattle JUST for the weather. However, many people grossly misrepresent the weather here. It is not nonstop cloudy/rainy for 9 months out of the year, as many people seem to believe.

Of course, that statement by itself isn't going to convince you, so let me show you some actual data:



Seattle's annual precipitation of 37 inches is unremarkable - it is more than California and the Southwest, but less than most big cities in the eastern US. Seattle's ~2200 annual sunshine hours are on the lower end by American standards; cities with similar amounts include Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Buffalo.

So yes, for transplants, Seattle is likely cloudier than wherever they came from. However, the difference is not as large as you might think. East coast cities like NY, Philly, and DC receive about 2500 hours of annual sunshine. This is a 15% increase over Seattle - hardly overwhelming. The SF Bay Area, widely considered to have nice weather, gets about 2900 hours. This is a 33% increase over Seattle; definitely significant, but not a huge change. (LA and Phoenix are admittedly in a different league.)

Anyway, my point is that the east coast gets more rain and MUCH more extreme temperatures, while only having marginally more sun. So why does Seattle weather get such a bad rap?

I think there are two reasons. The first reason is that sunshine and rain are very unevenly distributed throughout the year, as is evident from the data table above. November, December, and January are very rainy and very dark, with the darkness due to both clouds and Seattle's short winter days at its northerly location. Now spring isn't anywhere near as rainy/dark, and summer is GORGEOUS with lots of sunshine...but the winter definitely lives up to the rainy, gray reputation.

The second reason is the media's constant portrayal of Seattle as a rain-drenched city. To illustrate just how powerful this media bias can be, let's play a little game.

Picture the city of Rio de Janeiro. What images come to mind?

If you're like me, you'll think of tropical weather. Great beaches. That Christ the Redeemer statue perched atop a cliff. Carnaval. Maybe some bikini-clad Brazilian girls (hehe). Clearly much sunnier than Seattle, right?

Wrong. Seattle gets more sunshine than Rio. Rio gets just under 2100 annual sunshine hours, according to Wikipedia. You would never know that, though, because your mind has been primed with the idea that Seattle is drizzly and depressing while Rio is a tropical vacation spot.

So next time you find yourself cursing the gray, drizzly Seattle weather, just remind yourself that you're getting more sun than you would be getting in Rio.

[evergraystate]

You're trying to lie with statistics an its not convincing anyone. Here's the data maintained by city-data. Feel free to misinterpret it any way you want.


http://www.city-data.com/top2/c475.html

Top 101 cities with the lowest average sunshine amount (population 50,000+)

1. *Bellingham, WA (housing, pop. 75,150): 35.0%
2. *Everett, WA (housing, pop. 98,514): 36.5%
3. *Shoreline, WA (housing, pop. 52,315): 36.6%
4. *Seattle, WA (housing, pop. 582,454): 37.3%
5. *East Seattle, WA (housing, pop. 480,100): 38.3%
6. *Bellevue, WA (housing, pop. 118,186): 38.4%
7. *Renton, WA (housing, pop. 58,534): 39.1%
8. *Issaquah Plateau, WA (housing, pop. 50,237): 39.6%
9. *Kent, WA (housing, pop. 83,501): 39.8%
10. *Federal Way, WA (housing, pop. 84,166): 39.9%

http://www.city-data.com/city/Seattle-Washington.html