Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Did i just see somebody claim that Houston, Texas, has more world-class art and theater than Seattle?
That gets my vote for the most laughable statement I've ever seen on these forums. Houston is the armpit of the United States - without question. Great people? Sure. Some good eats? You bet. But to call it a center of art/theater on par with Seattle is an absolute joke. It is a sprawling, humid, zone-free, billboard-ridden, stripclub-on-every-corner, redneck disaster.
Ask yourself this - would Houston exist without the presence of oil? The answer is no. In fact, Houston wouldn't exist if Galveston wouldn't have been wiped off the map by a hurricane at the turn of the century.
I'd really like to know what I've missed in my numerous jaunts through Houston, if I'm way off base.
Did i just see somebody claim that Houston, Texas, has more world-class art and theater than Seattle?
That gets my vote for the most laughable statement I've ever seen on these forums. Houston is the armpit of the United States - without question. Great people? Sure. Some good eats? You bet. But to call it a center of art/theater on par with Seattle is an absolute joke. It is a sprawling, humid, zone-free, billboard-ridden, stripclub-on-every-corner, redneck disaster.
Ask yourself this - would Houston exist without the presence of oil? The answer is no. In fact, Houston wouldn't exist if Galveston wouldn't have been wiped off the map by a hurricane at the turn of the century.
I'd really like to know what I've missed in my numerous jaunts through Houston, if I'm way off base.
Well, thats all I saw too.....That was pretty funny how you described it....I hope you don't mind if I steal that when I talk about houston to my friends in Oregon and Wa. Although I would have added "Big roach, and poisonous snake infested" between the "strip club on every corer" and redneck desaster. Good Job. WHen ya battle with Seattle, prepare to get rattled (I just made that up).
I think you'll find a lot of truth, albeit a lot of ranting also, at seattle.shmeng.com.
I moved out here a few years ago and wanted to like it and live here permanently also. Like yourself, I'd visited for about 2 weeks (although) in the early '90's) and thought the place was great.
Additionally, I'd read up on statistics, heard a lot of positive things from natives I'd talked to when interviewing for a job here, and got the booster club response to any potentially negative question I'd asked.
Then, about 6 months into the move, reality hit.
The people: passive-aggressive, introverted, standoffish, inconsiderate, conformist, judgemental, unjustifiably arrogant, and defensive. I'm not sure if it's so much local culture by itself that makes the locals act like this, or backlash over their aversion to "Californication" or really anyone from anywhere else moving into the area.
Whoever said Seattle's a great place to raise a family is maybe a little off track. Sure, it's not wild and crazy Phoenix or Daytona Beach or something, but Seattle and WA state don't seem to have the law enforcement infrastructure to keep track of sex offenders. Dogs, apparently, enjoy greater social protections than children here do.
The weather is actually nice, but lack of central AC in most houses and apartments in the summer is still uncomfortable. Locals will snort and say it's nothing, sweating all the while just like anyone else would.
The poster who talked about the half-assed, drag-assed, lazy work ethic is right on the money. Sure, Seattle has a high rate of people with Bachelor's degrees -- apparently this "overqualifies" them for the service sector jobs that they perform so poorly. By the way, that statistic is based on number of people with Bachelor's degrees -- the Washington DC are has a higher per capita number of people with advanced post-graduate degrees (it's lawyer city over there).
Regarding intellectual culture: the "most literate" statistic, I think really means that people keep their noses in a book in public to avoid interacting with others.
Do yourself a favor -- if you really want to move to the Pacific Northwest and not hate it, try Portland -- even then, have an exit strategy, because Portland is only slightly less pretentious and boring (if a little scummier) than Seattle.
Generally, I don't think it's even worthwhile to try to make friends with the natives -- they're annoying enough when you have to deal with them daily without spending your free time around them. Also, as this post will likely elicit enough passive-aggressive snarky responses already, I wanted to add that few cities in the U.S. take civic pride to the level of personal psychosis that Seattle natives do. Mention any other city in the country, and Seattleites will crap all over it (especially if they've never been there) -- say one negative (yet true) thing about Seattle and they run for some statistics quote from 1991 claiming that it's a nice place.
Last edited by geometricdisaster; 08-01-2007 at 06:04 PM..
You may want to read up on, oh, every other major city in the US. You've been watching too much local news, where 'if it bleeds, it leads.'
The problem of sex offenders is prevalent in every major city. Find me a city with a fabulous sex offender registry that doesn't fail on occasion.
All of those nifty adjectives you used to describe the natives? Sounds like an awfully judgemental sentiment for 3+ million people in the metro... and ironic, considering you feel we're all judgemental and unjustifiably arrogant.
Complaining about lack of AC? Now I've heard everything.
Nah, I could care less when people rail on Seattle. You know why? I love it, and don't expect each vagabond coming through to agree with me. I also love Chicago, Austin, San Diego... I can even manage nice things to say about LA given the chance.
Difference is, I don't bother going to the boards of cities that I detest telling the folks there looking for actual info why it sucks so much. Because that, to me, is the opposite of civic pride - it's schadenfreude, a tool for folks who can't make it on their own.
Best of luck to you in your next town that will undoubtedly be perfect.
sorry but anyone who puts Seattle drivers down have never lived in FL or Atlanta...and are the same ones who lay on the horns every 5 minutes, so annoying! Im the one who is always shushing you
ps Im a New Yorker who lived in both FL and ATL, I have been here a little over 2 years and Im still on my honeymoon stage. For the heat (all of maybe a week or two a year) I purchased an AC you know, the kind you can put in any window? don't even need it at night since the temp drops to 50s and 60s at night, found my ac on craigslist for a song
and for the claim that Seattle is not for families, sheesh, we have so many beautiful clean parks geared towards children, I just came home from Greenlake park, the fountain was filled with kids!
as you were
Last edited by schoolsgirl; 08-01-2007 at 08:14 PM..
Reason: forgot to add my cred :)
Did i just see somebody claim that Houston, Texas, has more world-class art and theater than Seattle?
That gets my vote for the most laughable statement I've ever seen on these forums. Houston is the armpit of the United States - without question. Great people? Sure. Some good eats? You bet. But to call it a center of art/theater on par with Seattle is an absolute joke. It is a sprawling, humid, zone-free, billboard-ridden, stripclub-on-every-corner, redneck disaster.
Ask yourself this - would Houston exist without the presence of oil? The answer is no. In fact, Houston wouldn't exist if Galveston wouldn't have been wiped off the map by a hurricane at the turn of the century.
I'd really like to know what I've missed in my numerous jaunts through Houston, if I'm way off base.
Houston may not be perfect, but Seattle sucks a whole lot worse. It rains constantly almost year round and there is real threat from earthquakes. The people are a bunch of methed out rednecks who think that starbucks is some kind of real contribution to society! The city smells like dead fish and gangs are becoming out of control there. There is no real culture there, no matter if some grunge bands came out of there in the 90's. Traffic is a total nightmare and the city can't even come up with original slogans for their sprts teams (see the Seahawks trying to coin "12th man" for themselves a few years back when Texas A&M had owned that term for many years). The only true contribution that Seattle has ever had was Microsoft! Talk about a craphole, Seattle is one!!!
1. Seattle isn't at ALL unfriendly. I've lived in other places (Santa Barbara, Washington, DC, Connecticut, NY) and it's very friendly compared to those places.
HOWEVER, it is true that people are (for the most part) surface friendly, but reserved. Like the neighbors might wave at each other, but that's about it. There are tons of exceptions, but for the most part people are polite but not interested in making friends. This is the one thing on the list that I think is accurate.
2. I don't think the weather is depressing at all. It's gray and drizzly when the rest of the country is snowing. Unless you're comparing it to California, the weather is favorable, in my opinion. The summers and falls are nice - not unbearably hot but nice enough to enjoy.
3. I can't comment on the introverted part because we are such homebodies ourselves. I have no idea if other people are going out. We have a toddler.
4. I think downtown is still going at 1am but I don't know.
5. I think the economy is quite robust. There are lots of good paying jobs downtown and successful businesses. Expedia, Starbucks, Nordstrom, Amazon, and tons and tons of others.
I honestly think Seattle is a wonderful place to live for a lot of people. We are looking to move because we want more house for our money, have a job opportunity elsewhere that is significantly more money, and want to live in a smaller town.
There are a ton of things to do around here, it is among the most beautiful places in the country (and I've been to all but six states, so I think I've seen my fair share of places), and the people are nice. It isn't the South or Midwest, so the people won't bowl you over with friendliness. You have to make an effort and that is frustrating. Housing is expensive, but not compared to most of the Northeast and California. The weather isn't perfect, but it isn't bad at all. People are very diverse and pc, which some people might think of as a plus. The traffic can be bad, but isn't an issue as long as you MAKE SURE TO LIVE NEAR WHERE YOU WORK!! Which is the number one rule in any city, I think, to improve one's quality of life. For example, if you work downtown, try living in West Seattle or Normandy Park, rather than somewhere on the East side.
I don't know a SINGLE person who complains about living in this area. It's hard to get too down on a place when you drive around or look out the window and see the Puget Sound or one of the lakes or many mountain ranges or Mount Rainier. It's just a very nice place to live and I'd recommend it for anyone looking for a not-huge city.
Oh my gosh, I just read geometricdisaster's response and I have to respectfully disagree with a lot of it.
I do agree with a couple of the points, to some extent.
1. People ARE judgemental about things like not picking up dog poo when walking, littering cigarette butts, using the carpool lane when driving solo, etc. Of course, all these things are not good things to do. But in other places people mind their own beeswax. NOT in Seattle. I personally don't mind a little nosiness in a group of citizens, but I know it rubs some people the wrong way. The only conformist quality people seem to share is the tendency to be PC. There is a lot of moral relativism, in my opinion. God forbid if you think anything anyone could ever do is wrong.
2. Service people are hit or miss. MUCH much much much much better than New York and Connecticut workers (who mostly drive in from NY). Very rarely would anyone be overtly rude. But you don't see a ton of workers who seem thrilled to serve you. However, I don't think I've ever experienced a rude waiter and we used to eat out a lot, in our pre-baby days.
3. As far as being pretentious, before my SAHM gig I experienced a smidge of this in corporate life. You know, a select few droning on and on about wine, or exotic travel, or bicycling, or the latest gadgets, or the minute details of their home remodel. Nothing over the top. Just kind of boring, imo.
You may want to read up on, oh, every other major city in the US. You've been watching too much local news, where 'if it bleeds, it leads.'
The problem of sex offenders is prevalent in every major city. Find me a city with a fabulous sex offender registry that doesn't fail on occasion.
All of those nifty adjectives you used to describe the natives? Sounds like an awfully judgemental sentiment for 3+ million people in the metro... and ironic, considering you feel we're all judgemental and unjustifiably arrogant.
Complaining about lack of AC? Now I've heard everything.
Nah, I could care less when people rail on Seattle. You know why? I love it, and don't expect each vagabond coming through to agree with me. I also love Chicago, Austin, San Diego... I can even manage nice things to say about LA given the chance.
Difference is, I don't bother going to the boards of cities that I detest telling the folks there looking for actual info why it sucks so much. Because that, to me, is the opposite of civic pride - it's schadenfreude, a tool for folks who can't make it on their own.
Best of luck to you in your next town that will undoubtedly be perfect.
Wow, another defensive local Dr. Pangloss regarding everything Seattle -- with that pat "Seattle's problems happen everywhere" response. At least Gregoire's finally admitted that too many Washingtonians don't seem to be looking after their kids very well and CPS needs to be fixed.
So, in effect, you're saying: How dare one criticize Seattle on a thread that asks "is there any truth to the seattlesucks.com-type websites"?
And, yeah, wow, complaining over lack of central AC when it creeps up to the high 80's. This is in response to another poster as well, but: of course, buy a window unit; it's still less efficient, looks like crap hanging out of your window, and only affects one room. Home HVAC in most other cities, unlike here, has progressed past 1972 era technology.
The comedic irony is that, if you read through my post and read your responses, you're playing up to the Seattleite stereotypes that I'm talking about.
Best of luck to you as well.
Last edited by geometricdisaster; 08-01-2007 at 10:55 PM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Gee, shocking you didn't like it better.
Seattle doesn't suck!
