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Oh my God, I saw a tarantula-sized spider. I seriously thought a mouse had run across the room. I had no idea what to do. My husband said it was a wolf spider. That may be reason for some to complain or not move here, I understand. Seriously, it was ridiculous.
Seattle was traditionally more of a blue collar town. A lot has changed in the last 40 years, but the people who have spent their whole lives here haven't changed as much.
You say we have a thriving economy, but really our current economy panders to the tech sector and favors those who are making six figures. The lower paying jobs don't pay enough to make up for the cost of housing, gas, and the brutal commutes. I'm glad you're having a great time here as a single young man, but if you ever want to start a family and move to a house, you will then understand what people are complaining about.
To get an affordable house (if you want to call it that), you have to move 20 miles or more out of the city, which equates to an hour or more commute. Then you have to pay for expensive gas to have the privilege to sit in said traffic. At least you can look at the mountains while you sit in traffic. That is, unless the clouds are out, but hey that never happens here.
The natives are being pushed out in favor of all the hipsters and techsters moving here. Now the natives are restless and unhappy.
Yes, there is that, and it is not completely untrue. However, the natives are still around, and many are enjoying higher home values. They can cringe and cry and complain and cry some more, but if they are homeowners they are doing fine. If some feel the need to move out to further suburbs, then that is their choice. I think what we really have here are people who moved in the past decade and feel crowded out. There are different levels of the Seattle experience, and not everyone is in the same boat. While the urban areas are being defined by "hipsters and techsters", the city has not been completely taken over by them, in fact, if anything, they are producing greater wealth for natives. (This may go against some of my earlier posts, but I am a poster in motion).
Seattle was traditionally more of a blue collar town. A lot has changed in the last 40 years, but the people who have spent their whole lives here haven't changed as much.
You say we have a thriving economy, but really our current economy panders to the tech sector and favors those who are making six figures. The lower paying jobs don't pay enough to make up for the cost of housing, gas, and the brutal commutes. I'm glad you're having a great time here as a single young man, but if you ever want to start a family and move to a house, you will then understand what people are complaining about.
To get an affordable house (if you want to call it that), you have to move 20 miles or more out of the city, which equates to an hour or more commute. Then you have to pay for expensive gas to have the privilege to sit in said traffic. At least you can look at the mountains while you sit in traffic. That is, unless the clouds are out, but hey that never happens here.
The natives are being pushed out in favor of all the hipsters and techsters moving here. Now the natives are restless and unhappy.
Simple solution: buy a condo in Seattle. A lot of new transplants are doing exactly that, and in some parts of town, builders are building nice condo buildings as fast as they can.
Condos come with lots of problems and they aren't great for kids. And yes, many Seattle natives have increasing house values, however, that is only a benefit if you sell and move out of the area. Otherwise, it just means higher property taxes. And then, where do their kids go? When our kids grow up, I don't know if they could afford to live near us. I know an awful lot of 25 year olds that still live at home. Seattle is great for a certain lifestyle, right now - urban, free wheeling, singleton - but for others it's just getting tougher and tougher and I get the complaints.
I know many retirees who have rented the same place for over 30 years. It's their community and where all their friends and family are, but now the owner is selling or raising the rent (by hundreds of dollars) and suddenly this person can no longer live anywhere near their support group.
When you live a lifetime a certain way, then suddenly the town around you goes crazy and now you're obsolete, it sucks. And it has been fairly sudden, in terms of a lifetime.
I also know plenty of 20-30ish people who loved living in an apartment in the city, until it was time to grow up and settle down. Now many of them are having to look for new towns to live in - even if their family and support groups are still in the city.
Yes, it's a beautiful and magnificent city, but don't be daft and only look at it from your angel and then consider everyone else to be a bunch of whiners. That's just being naive, self-centered, and discourteous. This didn't use to be the kind of town where we rudely mowed each other down and moved on. We use to be a more considerate bunch of people, before all the cool folk moved in.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Quote:
Originally Posted by angelenogirl
Oh my God, I saw a tarantula-sized spider. I seriously thought a mouse had run across the room. I had no idea what to do. My husband said it was a wolf spider. That may be reason for some to complain or not move here, I understand. Seriously, it was ridiculous.
This is our "Spider Season", and one can hardly go out the door without being hit in the face with a web. if you suffer from arachnophobia, it only lasts until the weather turns colder in November. What you saw is most likely a Giant House Spider, which rarely bites, is harmless, and actually is helpful because they eat the more dangerous Hobo spiders.
Those annoying garden spiders are one thing, but the house spiders aren't all that bad here. Every once in a while you get a monster, but they are pretty common around most of the country.
No. Can't say that I've had quite the experience with 8 legged demon spawn as I did in Seattle. Those things get large and FAT. To be fair, since I did live in another part of WA state for a bit, they were there, too. WA state has some nasty, disgusting spiders. The only thing that topped them were the giant, and no exaggeration, bigger than your hand spiders out in the Everglades where I lived for a spell. Everywhere else, nothing like those disgusting, brown, fat blobbed, hairy, gross things in WA state.
To the OP: If you like Seattle, that's fantastic. However, don't dismiss some of the things that other say. When I moved to Seattle, I, too, was pretty stinking happy. (Except because of all of the building of new apartment buildings at the time, I coughed a LOT.) I had a great time there for about 4-5 years...and then it started to wear.
Seattle does have some good things, just like any other city, but don't insult those who also throw in some truth. It doesn't mean we are "spurned lovers", it means that some things changed for the worse.
One thing I can say about the place, and it's surprising to hear people say that it's not so anymore, was that when I lived there, it had the BEST public transportation of any other area I've lived in. If that has changed, well then that city made a big mistake. I used to see all kinds of people on the bus, from business people to shady people, but a lot of people used that public transportation. Only on a few routes did I ever find just a few people on the bus, most of them were crowded, every single day. Plus they had the water taxi back then, not sure if they still have it, but total time saver.
Seattle also was a place that it was easy to make acquaintances. Life long friends...not quite as easy, but definitely you could find people that you enjoyed to go out and have a good time, no problem.
Just about everything was accepted in Seattle...which can be good or bad, depending on how you look at things.
Summers didn't get horrid. There are definitely hot days, especially with the idea that air conditioning wasn't needed, (baloney), but they don't last long. I happen to love rain, so rainy days didn't bother me one bit. (Or that mist, not really rain, but the misty days which is what it really is over rain.)
Yes, there is a lot to do, especially if you like the outdoors. You can travel an hour or so in any direction and find something fun to do outdoors. Ocean, mountains, hiking, camping, skiing, snowboarding, water skiing, sailing, fishing, whatever, you do have a lot to do.
NONE of the negates the fact that Seattle also has issues. Someone telling you what those issues are, especially those who have lived there, or had lived there, longer than a "few weeks", is not a loser with nothing better to do. One might say the same about someone posting again and again and again slamming on people posting realities.
Compared to San Francisco, OF COURSE Seattle is like an emerald, (see what I did there?), and I don't expect those rose colored glasses to come off any time soon. But don't dismiss the reality that people are telling you. You don't have to be negative about it, but at least take it in, learn something, and use that to your advantage.
There's just a lot of negative people here who need hobbies..
This is a free country, people should move where they want to. Just because you're a native gives you in no way some sort of monopoly over this city.
I like Seattle as a world class, hot shot city with tons of cultural activities, restaurants, and chic bars. That's what most people seem to want too -- not a downtown full of parking lots and a depressed economy like it was 10-15 years ago.
If you want dirt cheap pricing and non-tech jobs, there's a whole country between two coasts you can relocate to and escape evil liberals and progressive values.
I know you feel this way now, but don't be surprised if after a bit, you start feeling rather protective of this city and wanting to keep it from growing too much. You look around, think how lucky you are and you don't want it spoiled.
Another reason why I think posters who have moved continue to post negatively is to convince themselves they are better off. Maybe they are and they should be glad they found a better place for themselves.
This is our "Spider Season", and one can hardly go out the door without being hit in the face with a web. if you suffer from arachnophobia, it only lasts until the weather turns colder in November. What you saw is most likely a Giant House Spider, which rarely bites, is harmless, and actually is helpful because they eat the more dangerous Hobo spiders.
Ugh those stupid orb weavers can all burn in eight-legged hell. Every morning I take out the dog I have to wave a stick around in front of me like a doofus to avoid walking into a web. At least they're not particularly scary.
Hemlock is right about the Giant House Spider (that's their real name), they are far more common than Wolf spiders around here and they can get pretty frickin huge. We usually catch 3 or 4 large ones every year but their season is already winding down. They're not unique to Seattle but they do seem a bit more numerous here than other places I've lived.
Condos come with lots of problems and they aren't great for kids. And yes, many Seattle natives have increasing house values, however, that is only a benefit if you sell and move out of the area. Otherwise, it just means higher property taxes. And then, where do their kids go? When our kids grow up, I don't know if they could afford to live near us. I know an awful lot of 25 year olds that still live at home. Seattle is great for a certain lifestyle, right now - urban, free wheeling, singleton - but for others it's just getting tougher and tougher and I get the complaints.
I know many retirees who have rented the same place for over 30 years. It's their community and where all their friends and family are, but now the owner is selling or raising the rent (by hundreds of dollars) and suddenly this person can no longer live anywhere near their support group.
When you live a lifetime a certain way, then suddenly the town around you goes crazy and now you're obsolete, it sucks. And it has been fairly sudden, in terms of a lifetime.
I also know plenty of 20-30ish people who loved living in an apartment in the city, until it was time to grow up and settle down. Now many of them are having to look for new towns to live in - even if their family and support groups are still in the city.
Yes, it's a beautiful and magnificent city, but don't be daft and only look at it from your angel and then consider everyone else to be a bunch of whiners. That's just being naive, self-centered, and discourteous. This didn't use to be the kind of town where we rudely mowed each other down and moved on. We use to be a more considerate bunch of people, before all the cool folk moved in.
You've put a human face on some of the problems we're facing; thanks for expressing it so eloquently and without rancor.
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