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Your posts are all the same. Read them. If you love Chicago, why keep coming to the Seattle board telling us about how much you hated Seattle? Enjoy your new city of Chicago.
Agreed, why do people who don't live here feel compelled to constantly post here? I never go to the forums in my old cities any longer. I moved on, maybe those who have left Seattle should move on too.
I couldn't be paid to live in Chicago: High crime and you can't legally carry a gun, segregation up the yin-yang, dirty city, no natural beauty, summers are too hot, winters are too cold and you basically have to drive everywhere.
I moved to Seattle and love it. I rave about my city because I like it, its vibrant culture, its surrounding natural beauty, its people (freaks and geeks, my kind of people) and even its weather. Hey, when was the last time you had to shovel the rain?
But to each his own. Enjoy your deep dish "pizza". It just means there's more Dungeness crab and copper river salmon for me.
Copper River Salmon is actually from the Copper River in Alaska.. Good stuff, but it imported, not local.. The local Salmon in the Pacific Northwest, I would avoid like the plague, due to a high level of contamination. I lived on the Oregon Coast for many years and was shocked at all the garbage and chemical bottles from China that would wash up on the beach.
On another note, anybody who thinks Seattle has bad weather compared to anywhere in the Great Lakes region is seriously deranged..
I couldn't be paid to live in Chicago: High crime and you can't legally carry a gun, segregation up the yin-yang, dirty city, no natural beauty, summers are too hot, winters are too cold and you basically have to drive everywhere.
I moved to Seattle and love it. I rave about my city because I like it, its vibrant culture, its surrounding natural beauty, its people (freaks and geeks, my kind of people) and even its weather. Hey, when was the last time you had to shovel the rain?
But to each his own. Enjoy your deep dish "pizza". It just means there's more Dungeness crab and copper river salmon for me.
Eh, well, most of what you're complaining about is a major exaggeration. Chicago treats its summers much as Seattle does: those few weeks out of the year when the weather is gorgeous all the time. It's a bit hotter than Seattle, but the heat generally isn't oppressive.
The crime is only a problem in some parts of the city, and it's not really something that impacts daily life. Most of the crime you see sensationalized in the media is gang-related. It's not like random people are getting gunned down on the street as they walk to the grocery store.
As for the winter, yeah, well, that's one thing I'm going to love about Seattle.
Chicago isn't great for outdoorsy people, but there is some natural beauty around. Lake Michigan is gorgeous and easily accessible for a good chunk of Chicago's population. There are also some pretty good forest preserves, and since the area is mostly deciduous forest, it's beautiful during the fall. I'm not very outdoorsy, so I never considered this an issue, but I suppose it is for some people.
As for food, the great thing about Chicago is that it has food from all over. There's an incredible diversity in food offerings that's hard to find elsewhere. The city has almost anything you could ever want. I definitely miss that in Seattle, which is much smaller and lacks the diversity of options.
And your comment about having to drive everywhere is completely off base. The north side of Chicago is far more walkable and pedestrian-friendly than the residential neighborhoods in Seattle. It's actually pretty common for people to live there without cars. Its public transit system is second in quality only to NYC. When I tell people I live without a car in Seattle, I get some strange looks.
I know this wasn't the point of this thread, but part of my soul still lives in Chicago, so I had to set the record straight.
People are really the same everywhere. I laughed at the OP's original post. Vancouver, B.C. gets the same kind of flack that Seattle does. i really don't understand why it's NOT OK for people to rave about the city they live in. New Yorker's do it, Montrealer's do it, but Seattle can't?
So you hate the weather? Some of the best cities in the world have " interesting " weather. Also cities don't exist in a vacuum. Everyone has their own wants and needs in a city and if Seattle offers and delivers on those needs better than Chicago, who are you to criticize? Last time I checked Chicago lacks mountains and ocean. Big lakes, for me ( just like Lake Ontario where Toronto sits ) are a very poor substitute for an ocean. However I'm not upset that people in Chicago or Toronto love their cites, they are great cities, but not for everyone.
Just be glad we have choices. I'm happy that you seem happy with your current choice...for now. Let's talk again in 8 years.
It is subjective. It all depends on your interests and what you enjoy doing/being around. Seattle IS amazing and beautiful and my ideal place to live, but that's ME. Try living somewhere like Houston and then tell me that there is nothing to do in Seattle. You have practically anything you can imagine within a three hour drive - well other than a tropical paradise with abundant sunshine. But if that's your thing, you probably shouldn't be living here anyway. For me, Seattle has everything I want - mild weather, mountains, oceans, forests, national parks, volcanoes, rivers, beaches, islands, access to skiing, Canada, etc. Then again, I'm an outdoorsy person. I think if you aren't, then Seattle probably isn't really anything special compared to other cities. If you enjoy where you live, then you are going to tell others that. People do it all over the world, not just Seattle. There is nothing wrong with that as long as you realise others may not see it that way - which is fine. That's what makes us all different.
Guess what former bitters: It rains in Seattle. If you don't like rain, don't live here. It's really that simple. All these weather posts to complain about something that is not going to change, that no one can control and is perfectly palatable to a segment of the population - just maybe not you.
You may find it rude that we say "if you don't like it, leave" but seriously, isn't that the obvious thing to do? Posting complaints about the clouds in sky or the fact that not enough people are complaining with you is such a waste of time when you could be so much happier living somewhere else.
Perhaps you are some rain-making shaman. If you are, congratulations on having so many of the same profession here with you! Is there a covert guild? Medieval is what certain social and cultural aspects of Seattle are, underscores all this happy Seattle-is-great jabber.
The audacity of those who must ululate perpetual praise over something as trivial as the culture of certain snide old-school corners of this town... But you must realize that this place is no longer the little village it once was and to own-up to these comparisons to NYC or Chicago and bestowing titles like "world-class" upon Seattle this town must re-orient itself to something other than hugging its self-reverential aloof stodginess, to harboring racial disdain hid patheticallly under thin veils of praise for Norm Rice or Ron Sims (stepinfetchits, really), to pretending that sabotaging efforts is a model form of democratic effort meant to highlight responsibility is just an indulgent sabotage for the sake of proving relevance.
There is very little to love about Old Seattle. But the point is moot: Old Seattle is going, going, soon to be gone! Look at your skyline, look at your changing neighborhoods becoming more and more indistinct from anywhere else. Look at all the people who will do to Seattle what has been done elsewhere. That is not a bad thing or a good thing: It is change and it is happening as that path to the crypt grows more distinct with every passing day.
Old Seattle complains to much, imposes too much and demands fealty to a throwback era full of disdain for anything that upsets the tedium of proper living, proper a code word for stodgy self-denial, of squinty-eyed appraisals done as in the '50's when 'they' would show up, 'they' who would undo the false peace of determined blind eyes all wide open to potential threats from 'them' who don't compost properly, regardless of color (or not). I blame the physical weather somewhat on that and the rest of it on the effects it has on the people here, so I know why sin taxes are so favored by the old and dying in Seattle. The native-born residents live in fear and that cowardice cemented the strangeness that the native old Seattleite is marked with and passes unto their children like a social disease. They are attempting to control the temptation, the contagion. What Old Seattle needs is a true Perestroika! Hope and change won't cut it!
The main issue with old-school Seattleites is that they cannot let go because they think society will fall apart without their sage wisdom. But what wisdom is this that masks denial? Seattle neighborhoods can be oppresive and judgemental, reeking of mold last grown circa the 1950's. One can see easily how PC festered here first: As a camoflage against the xenophobia that is implied publicly but openly discussed in private. Do they think such severe protectionism is going to keep their children superior in some way? Or is their society so raggedy it must hold on by any means necessary? Old Seattle thinks too much of itself and maybe race preservation, too. You can see this thru most of their political maneuvers, pot love and SSM aided by outsiders more than Old Seattle. Civil rights is go be yourself over there and we'll check up on your level of civility when we get around to it, maybe after the composting is done and the organic Ben-Gay sets in because allowing change jolts the joints. Old Seattle exemplifies the chief failings of their generation. They think they are paramount to everyone else just because they think they are so paramount. So precious! And what they have done to some of their children!
Old Seattle perfected the technique of letting something simmer only to quietly, with an odd hushed stridency, strike out after attention has been diverted elsewhere, a practice seen in so many of their infrastructure projects and social engineering feats. All that indoor time reflecting ponderously makes retribution that much sweeter and they must prove they actually do exist rather than silently fading away into the greyish-green mosaic of fungus and mold hidden by greenery and rough rocks.
Just let go Old Seattle. Let your children live! The world will continue long after your commiseration is gone and maybe that is why so many younger Seattleites scream their slogan ultimatum "Love it or leave it"! They know their parents' time is up and resisting the call of the cloudy grey gets harder every day without all the fussy coddling.
Get over it, Seattle. Harboring the Center of the Universe was only a joke not meant to be internalized.
Perhaps you are some rain-making shaman. If you are, congratulations on having so many of the same profession here with you! Is there a covert guild? Medieval is what certain social and cultural aspects of Seattle are, underscores all this happy Seattle-is-great jabber.
The audacity of those who must ululate perpetual praise over something as trivial as the culture of certain snide old-school corners of this town... But you must realize that this place is no longer the little village it once was and to own-up to these comparisons to NYC or Chicago and bestowing titles like "world-class" upon Seattle this town must re-orient itself to something other than hugging its self-reverential aloof stodginess, to harboring racial disdain hid patheticallly under thin veils of praise for Norm Rice or Ron Sims (stepinfetchits, really), to pretending that sabotaging efforts is a model form of democratic effort meant to highlight responsibility is just an indulgent sabotage for the sake of proving relevance.
There is very little to love about Old Seattle. But the point is moot: Old Seattle is going, going, soon to be gone! Look at your skyline, look at your changing neighborhoods becoming more and more indistinct from anywhere else. Look at all the people who will do to Seattle what has been done elsewhere. That is not a bad thing or a good thing: It is change and it is happening as that path to the crypt grows more distinct with every passing day.
Old Seattle complains to much, imposes too much and demands fealty to a throwback era full of disdain for anything that upsets the tedium of proper living, proper a code word for stodgy self-denial, of squinty-eyed appraisals done as in the '50's when 'they' would show up, 'they' who would undo the false peace of determined blind eyes all wide open to potential threats from 'them' who don't compost properly, regardless of color (or not). I blame the physical weather somewhat on that and the rest of it on the effects it has on the people here, so I know why sin taxes are so favored by the old and dying in Seattle. The native-born residents live in fear and that cowardice cemented the strangeness that the native old Seattleite is marked with and passes unto their children like a social disease. They are attempting to control the temptation, the contagion. What Old Seattle needs is a true Perestroika! Hope and change won't cut it!
The main issue with old-school Seattleites is that they cannot let go because they think society will fall apart without their sage wisdom. But what wisdom is this that masks denial? Seattle neighborhoods can be oppresive and judgemental, reeking of mold last grown circa the 1950's. One can see easily how PC festered here first: As a camoflage against the xenophobia that is implied publicly but openly discussed in private. Do they think such severe protectionism is going to keep their children superior in some way? Or is their society so raggedy it must hold on by any means necessary? Old Seattle thinks too much of itself and maybe race preservation, too. You can see this thru most of their political maneuvers, pot love and SSM aided by outsiders more than Old Seattle. Civil rights is go be yourself over there and we'll check up on your level of civility when we get around to it, maybe after the composting is done and the organic Ben-Gay sets in because allowing change jolts the joints. Old Seattle exemplifies the chief failings of their generation. They think they are paramount to everyone else just because they think they are so paramount. So precious! And what they have done to some of their children!
Old Seattle perfected the technique of letting something simmer only to quietly, with an odd hushed stridency, strike out after attention has been diverted elsewhere, a practice seen in so many of their infrastructure projects and social engineering feats. All that indoor time reflecting ponderously makes retribution that much sweeter and they must prove they actually do exist rather than silently fading away into the greyish-green mosaic of fungus and mold hidden by greenery and rough rocks.
Just let go Old Seattle. Let your children live! The world will continue long after your commiseration is gone and maybe that is why so many younger Seattleites scream their slogan ultimatum "Love it or leave it"! They know their parents' time is up and resisting the call of the cloudy grey gets harder every day without all the fussy coddling.
Get over it, Seattle. Harboring the Center of the Universe was only a joke not meant to be internalized.
Rarely have I read such a conglomeration of verbiage that says .... who the h*ll knows what???
"Old Seattle" vs. "New Seattle"? Really?
Sounds to me as if Horizon is slightly running at the mouth...
Agreed, why do people who don't live here feel compelled to constantly post here? I never go to the forums in my old cities any longer. I moved on, maybe those who have left Seattle should move on too.
I don't spend much time in other city forums so I don't know whether that's typical. Do other cities have a steady parade of disgruntled former residents trying to dissuade potential future residents from moving there with the same kind of messianic fervor?
The triteness of these efforts is what strikes me the most. Disgruntled former residents create new threads regarding how cloudy it is, or how unfriendly people are, that already exist in dozens of previous threads on this forum, and many other websites. Each thread espouses the some sentiment as all the ones that came before, never shedding any new light on the city's flaws.
And the city does have flaws. Seattleites aren't friendly compared to Southerners or Midwesterners. It is very gloomy for most of the year. There is pretty much no nightlife after 2:00 AM.
These are legitimate complaints and I don't think that local residents should get defensive in this forum when people bring those up. I have seen some posters here hurl unwarranted spite and vitriol at former residents for doing that, and it should stop. The idea, mentioned upthread that essentially "people on other city forums are homer douchebags, so why can't we be?" is a self-evidently terrible argument.
There is no need to get defensive. This city is a dream for some people and a nightmare for others. Current residents should just chill out. The world will not end if someone says something negative about Seattle, even something misguided, and you don't respond to it. If someone doesn't like Seattle, it doesn't reflect on you personally. The "My City Can Beat Up Your City" ethos that I see on City-Data.com so frequently is juvenile. So what if someone doesn't like Seattle and you happen to live here? What, does everyone have to like all of the same things you like? Do you get into heated arguments about ice cream flavors and pizza toppings, too?!
That said, I can't imagine having just moved from here and having a whole new city to explore and spending my precious time dive-bombing the forum of the place I used to live. How can you not have anything better to do than that? You think you're saving people from moving to Seattle and being as miserable as you were? News flash: there are years and years worth of posts like yours. Anyone that does even the most cursory bit of research about Seattle will come across all of the issues that you raise. You're not helping anyone with that kind of cliche catharsis, let's be honest here.
I guess what it comes down to is that if everyone using this forum, whether you love Seattle or hate it, only posted something that was genuinely insightful or original (and always civil) we'd all be better off.
Last edited by Steve Bowen; 06-29-2013 at 05:58 PM..
I don't spend much time in other city forums so I don't know whether that's typical. Do other cities have a steady parade of disgruntled former residents trying to dissuade potential future residents from moving there with the same kind of messianic fervor?
Yes. I've seen these same types of posts in the forums for Chicago, NYC, and Los Angeles. I'm sure they're all over the other cities' forums as well.
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