Downsides to living in Seattle. (friendly, business, winter)

[HuskyDawg]

also, those stupid concrete half circle things jutting out from the curbs in residential areas are ridiculously inane and annoying.

Those inane and annoying half circles are the only thing keeping cars from going 60mph on my long straight street. Though they still try.

[evergraystate]

Originally Posted by HuskyDawg

Those inane and annoying half circles are the only thing keeping cars from going 60mph on my long straight street. Though they still try.

That funny, driver's in the rest of the country manage to not go 60mph on residential streets without those things. Its called the posted speed limit. Besides, the pot holes and broken pavement in this city is enough to deter most people from speeding. The only other place I've seen such a propensity rig the streets with those damn mini round abouts and chicanes is Berkeley. And while we're on the subject, what genius decided to pave all the side streets with concrete slabs instead asphalt? And why hasn't the city invested in inductive loop type sensors for any of the controlled intersections in this city? They've been around for 20 years. Its dirt cheap technology and it works. Every major city I've traveled to in this country has them except Seattle. Replacing the stop ligh timers with inductive sensors could relieve a lot of the traffic congestion in Seattle. The transportation infrastructure in this city is shameful.

[Freebird2007]

Originally Posted by Trinitylove

traffic isn't that bad, but parking is HORRIBLE.

also, those stupid concrete half circle things jutting out from the curbs in residential areas are ridiculously inane and annoying.

no great sports teams, but i guess that's relative coming from someone originally from wisconsin (go Packers! Badgers! Brewers!)

traffic sucks! and parking isn't bad.....try living in Boston. I have been up all night before cruising around my condo for a parking spot.

[seattle789]

Be prepared for the weather. Folks from the mid-west can love it here because we don't have freezing cold winters and horrible muggy summers. But you really have to get that the 36 inches or so of rain we get is spread out over the entire year and a lot of it falls in dribs and drabs and drizzle. A month can go by without much sun at all peeking out. (And that's June!) And it's true about December darkness. We're at 47 degrees latitude!

Parking and traffic are getting worse all the time but there isn't enough bus/rail service to make it very convenient to take unless you're on a good line to downtown. IMHO. This mayor and our last love to talk about how people "need to get out of their cars" and find "alternate transportation." Well a HUGE bill was run up with monorail planning and you see where that got us. Monorail to Nowhere. Parking meters now run till 8pm. I personally don't want to be on light rail at 10pm. Especially in November. Due your due diligence if you plan on opening a business here.

[Trinitylove]

Originally Posted by HuskyDawg

Those inane and annoying half circles are the only thing keeping cars from going 60mph on my long straight street. Though they still try.

What's ironic, is that I see people drive crazy fast going around those things!

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by HuskyDawg

Those inane and annoying half circles are the only thing keeping cars from going 60mph on my long straight street. Though they still try.

Please, like anyone in Seattle knows how to drive 60. The highways are cluttered with Prius's and Subaru's doing 52 in the left lane as they smell their own farts.

[noexcuseforignorance]

1. High housing costs - definitely higher than Chicago.
2. No rapid transit - buses are ok, but slow. Most people find that a car is required.
3. High sales tax - 9.5% on most goods (except food) and services.
4. Expensive water bills - among the highest in the country
5. Parking meters are $4/hour downtown, although that isn't too different from Chicago.
6. It gets dark very early in December
8. Like any city, 'it's very congested in Seattle.
9. High property taxes, with a currupt government wastefully spending it. But then I heard Chicago has problems with it's government as well.
11. We may have beautiful mountain and sound views but it's mostly too cloudy or foggy to see them.

Those $500-600 apartments are studios in buildings with hookers and drug dealers, and homeless on the sidewalk. Figure double that for a semi-decent place.

This forum is full of such drama queens. Plenty of those complaints are just BS or exaggerated. There might be high sales tax here, for example, but there's a huge used goods market on Craigslist and there's 0 income tax. Only one of 5 states that can say that. Traffic here is greatly exaggerated. Traffic in the city of Seattle isn't bad *UNLESS* you're going through the downtown corridor. If you stay on one side of the city, you won't see that much traffic.

As for a corrupt city, the city does a pretty good job and I don't recall any city officials being put up on corruption charges lately. Is that tin foil hat a little tight today?

Here's the real skinny

1. It's dark. It might take a few years, but it will get to you. Take some vitamin D
2. The police are horrible. You'll continually read (people here actually do that) about stupid actions by morons in a badge and they're pretty bad at giving out tickets nowadays.
3. Housing costs are high. They're not Moscow high though. By listening to people such as the guy above, you'd think that you need $1200 a month for an apartment. You don't. The cheapest way to live is often renting a house with other people. You can also rent apartments with others. There are also some smaller apartments that are reasonably priced.

From a social perspective, don't expect the whole block to come visit you on your move in, don't expect conversation with the neighbors, ... think more bookworms keeping to themselves. Your friends will most likely all live more than a mile from you. I'm not kidding.

That sounds very accurate based on what I've heard hanging out with friends in Chicago.

12. It is in a corner, a long way from a lot of the US.

Very true.

[movingwiththewind]

Originally Posted by noexcuseforignorance

... and there's 0 income tax. Only one of 5 states that can say that.

Only one of 9 states, to be precise.

[M3 Mitch]

Why would you live downtown to run an internet business? Do you just like living downtown (and consider the added expense justified)?

Yeah, WA is not business friendly but I agree with most that there is essentially no net downside moving from Chicago to Seattle. The one thing that has not been mentioned is that enough of the Seattle driving population is completely incompetent driving in snow, to the point that if it snows, make sure you move your car off the street beforehand, and then stay home. I don't care what you drive or how good you are, you can't dodge 12 knuckleheads at once.

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by noexcuseforignorance

This forum is full of such drama queens. Plenty of those complaints are just BS or exaggerated. There might be high sales tax here, for example, but there's a huge used goods market on Craigslist and there's 0 income tax. Only one of 5 states that can say that.

For one, a robust "used goods market" exists in any major city, and has no business in a discussion, frankly. Furthermore, the lack of an income tax is made up for in incredibly high sales and fuel taxes, property taxes, liquor taxes, utility taxes, B&O taxes, and the like (and I think you're wrong on the 5 state thing. Off the top of my head I can think of Washington, Nevada, Texas, New Hampshire, Tennessee, and Florida, so that's 6 right there. There are probably others I don't know about). To say nothing of the tourism taxes. Did you know that you can rent a car in this city, and the taxes for the car will amount to more than the cost of the rental?

Traffic here is greatly exaggerated. Traffic in the city of Seattle isn't bad *UNLESS* you're going through the downtown corridor. If you stay on one side of the city, you won't see that much traffic.

Another fallacy. Ever tried to cross the 520 during rush hour? How about from Bothell to Bellevue? The 405/90 crossover at Factoria? Newcastle to 167? The West Seattle bridge? Northgate? Lynnwood to Everett? Traffic in this city is amongst the worst in the entire country, made worse by the "road diets"

As for a corrupt city, the city does a pretty good job and I don't recall any city officials being put up on corruption charges lately. Is that tin foil hat a little tight today?

This largely depends on one's definition of corruption. While we don't have anybody openly embezzling funds, backroom deals run rampant here, as does misappropriation of monies earmarked for a certain project or service, but re-routed to something else (typically to further pander to the state employee's union by giving them even more) once the money is deposited into the general fund. And I think we can all agree our police department is rife with corruption, hand-in-hand with our DA's office that allows it to continue.

1. It's dark. It might take a few years, but it will get to you. Take some vitamin D

Truth on the darkness. Never had a need for D, though.

2. The police are horrible. You'll continually read (people here actually do that) about stupid actions by morons in a badge and they're pretty bad at giving out tickets nowadays.

Truth

3. Housing costs are high. They're not Moscow high though. By listening to people such as the guy above, you'd think that you need $1200 a month for an apartment. You don't. The cheapest way to live is often renting a house with other people. You can also rent apartments with others. There are also some smaller apartments that are reasonably priced.

There's a time and a place to share a house with roommates. It's called college. Telling a grown adult to dorm up as a solution is as much a non-starter as claiming the sales tax is no big deal because you can buy used on Craigslist. On this last point, I personally don't really care because I take the stance that if someone can't afford to live here, it's their life choices that led them to that situation. Doesn't change the fact that the ability to have a roommate doesn't make the city "cheaper" to live in. You could have a roommate in any other city, as well.