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Status:
"See My Blog Entries for my Top 500 Most Important USA Cities"
(set 5 days ago)
Location: Harrisburg, PA
1,051 posts, read 976,158 times
Reputation: 1406
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Arlington looks more dense and urban.
I really never heard of Bellevue, turns out it is large and has many shiny high rises. I've spent most of my life in central PA and I'm finding that the PNW has many cities I have not heard of in my life until recently doing research (Bellevue, Bremerton, Bellingham, Kennewick, Medford, Bend). Probably a function of distance.
Anyway, I would choose Arlington since it is immediately next to DC, which has so many things to do. DC is a really cool city (aggressive drivers though).
My fairly uninformed impression is that Bellevue is a fairly conventional suburb with a growing and walkable downtown.
Arlington is a little more of a streetcar suburb with built-up urban zones along the metro. So while it isn't a Camden/Cambridge/Jersey City inner urban city, it is more urban and connected to the central city than Bellevue is. Maybe Bellevue is a little more a cross between Bathesda MD and Reston Va. A conventional suburb with a modern down.
Really surprised the poll is so close. Arlington offers much more imo. I feel like people get blinded by the shiny new buildings in Bellevue. Doesn’t come close in urbanity, shopping, public transportation or things to do overall.
Arlington has impressive commute stats, even beating Seattle in transit share. Bellevue's no slouch though, easily beating many central cities like Denver, Portland, LA, etc. in transit share despite rail not arriving until 2023. Census ACS:
--Transit: 28.9% Arlington vs. 14.4% Bellevue
--Walking: 5.0% vs. 5.1%
--Biking: 1.5% vs. 0.3%
--Carpool: 5.8% vs. 11.7%
(For transit share: LA 8.7%, Denver 5.9%, Portland 12.0%)
Really surprised the poll is so close. Arlington offers much more imo. I feel like people get blinded by the shiny new buildings in Bellevue. Doesn’t come close in urbanity, shopping, public transportation or things to do overall.
I lived within walking distance of two high end malls. Plenty urban.
I lived within walking distance of two high end malls. Plenty urban.
Urban but not comparable to Arlington which has 3 large business districts that are connected by a metro system. Shopping might be closer since Bellevue is like the high end shopping area in Seattle whereas Arlington isn’t for DC. But I’d say there’s more variety.
Bellevue for the economy. Arlington is great for if you want to work for a defense contractor, HQ2 won't be enough to change the massive presence the DoD has there, including in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. Bellevue not only has Microsoft and Amazon HQ1 nearby, it has a much better selection of high innovation employers.
Bellevue for the economy. Arlington is great for if you want to work for a defense contractor, HQ2 won't be enough to change the massive presence the DoD has there, including in the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. Bellevue not only has Microsoft and Amazon HQ1 nearby, it has a much better selection of high innovation employers.
Also seems like Amazon is getting fed up with Seattle politics and moving more and more of it’s offices to Bellevue.
I would definitely choose Bellevue. Pretty walkable though some of the streets are wide but so are Arlington's. Major shopping goes to Bellevue by a mile. Bellevue Park is right in the heart of downtown. Main Street still has its quaintness despite all the construction. Even has a little waterfront to chill on. Despite having easy access by subway to DTDC I honestly don't see Arlington being that much more urban than Dt Bellevue.
Bellevue to me acts more like it's own independent city with its own Philharmonic Orchestra, big arts scene, convention center and top notch shopping scene. When Metro comes to Bellevue it will be extra nice not to worry about crossing Lake Washington's two bridges which always seem to be clogged.
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