I find Seattle kind of a dingy place (Spokane, Roosevelt: apartments, foreclosed)

[azoria]

Seattle has a real run down look and feel. Kind of neglected and dreary and bedraggled.

Maybe it's just Washington in general? We lived in Spokane for 2 years and it had the same feeling of mangy rundownedness. But the weather was better.

Property taxes in this state are high. Why does Washington look so tatty and threadbare? Most of it isn't very old.

[Aylalou]

I don't think so. It depends on where you go. I've taken city buses in downtown Seattle not knowing where I would end up and I saw nothing but beauty - Blue Ridge, Magnolia Park, University area.

[azoria]

I think the U district could do well demolishing all those dilapidated old houses and weary rundown apartments. I actually find The Ave/Roosevelt particularly depressing. If the whole area were scraped clean it would be no great loss.

[Aylalou]

I must have not been in that part of the University area. I wish I could remember the bus # I took to the University area and I kept going way past and found beautiful parks and very expensive neighborhoods.

[seattlerain]

Very odd, I've never heard anybody say that the state of Washington looked mangy, threadbare, and tatty...

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by seattlerain

Very odd, I've never heard anybody say that the state of Washington looked mangy, threadbare, and tatty...

Nor have I ---- and in over two decades I've never heard one person ever say that Seattle looks or feels run down, neglected, dreary or bedraggled...
Oh I get it: there's history here -- it's more than three years old here.
Wow.... imagine how diseased Chicago must therefore seem to youngsters! Or Washington D.C.! Or Williamsburg!!

[texastrigirl]

Yeah, I am relatively new here and I think it is a beautiful city, even on a gray rainy day. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder I guess and it's all relative to where you have been before!

[azoria]

Originally Posted by allforcats

Nor have I ---- and in over two decades I've never heard one person ever say that Seattle looks or feels run down, neglected, dreary or bedraggled...
Oh I get it: there's history here -- it's more than three years old here.
Wow.... imagine how diseased Chicago must therefore seem to youngsters! Or Washington D.C.! Or Williamsburg!!

I find Athens Greece, one of the oldest inhabited cities in the world, to be a delight.

That's why I'm befuddled as to why such a young place as Seattle, and most of the town sof Washington, are so run down.

[Jennibc]

Well, with the moisture here, buildings can become run down in they are not maintained. There are several homes in my neighborhood with roofs and siding that have been destroyed by moss that wasn't removed regularly. I don't remember where I read recently that vacant houses in the PNW fall apart really quickly. It might have been in an article in the Times about how foreclosed houses become dilapidated because of lack of maintenance. I'll see if I can find a link to the article. But my guess is that if a building isn't regularly cared for it starts to look "dirty"

Additionally, Weyerhauser produced a really horrendous siding in the eighties and early nineties. I wonder if many locals used it. It requires that buildings be painted much more often that normal. There are some commercial buildings in my neighborhood that just look awful and I think the siding was used in their construction.

BTW, back in the eighties I worked at Ivar's Acres of Clams as a waitperson and the occasional tourist commented on how dirty they thought our city was so I've heard it before.

[CityGirl72]

I THINK SO TOO!!

Sometimes I think I shouldn't because of all the "green" - but truthfully I think it's dirty looking - like not groomed, and too natural.

First time I drove by downtown (on the 99) I thought it looked all old and industrial too - and the grey days don't make it look clean and green - it makes it look depressive and be draggled.

It's like the whole area looks like the equivalant of a drowned rat.

But maybe that's because I come from the land of manicured lawns and HOA dues? :P