10 reasons why you should not move to Seattle (Vancouver, Lind: rent, house)

[Relocater123]

Granted, based on my own personal opinion and I don't mean to offend anyone here who loves Seattle. But if you're thinking about moving here, this is my personal experience/opinion and its fair to share it:

1. moderator cut: comment in designated thread

2. Infrastructre: Roads are decaying, buildings decaying, public transportation is horrible.

3. Cost of living: Through the roof. Seattle is about 25-30% above the national average. Maybe cheaper than Boston and San Francisco but more expensive than most places. A decent house in King County will cost 500K minimum, and a decent 1 bedroom apt rent is at least $1000.

4. Jobs: Generally not very well-paid considering the cost of living.

5. Nightlife: Horridly pathetic. Forget about it. Bars and nightclubs are just LAME. The city of Seattle has long since declared war on its nightlife. They pull drinks at 1:30 sharp. The state implemented one of the most fascist anti-smoking bans in the country. Furthermore, people either just sit around depressed or are too cool for their own good. Going out is pointless; people are generally rude in the bar scene and there is no party feeling anywhere. I used to love going out before I came here but now avoid it or go to Vancouver, BC or Portland to hang out.

6. Traffic: Unimaginably clogged. Forget about going anywhere between 7-10 AM and 3-6 PM. Under normal conditions people drive like snails (usually 5 mph below the speed limit). My first few months here I got flipped off on the road constantly and I had no idea why. Amazingly, as well, people have no idea how to drive in the rain.

7. Music scene: Nerd rock, post-punk. Grunge scene, for whatever it was worth, is gone.

8. Style and fashion: People dress like slobs here. On capitol hill, sometimes its hard to distinguish between the homeless and non-homeless.

9. Location: Because of its far northwestern geographic location, traveling to other parts of the continent/world is astonishingly difficult. Forget about flying to NYC for a weekend trip; because of the time change you leave Fri and arrive Saturday morning. Enjoy your 24 hours maximum anywhere else if you need to work on Monday. The only convenient destination from Seattle is Alaska...woohoo.

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In the interest in fairness, let me outline some good points about the area:

1. Nature: When the weather is nice, it is a gorgeous area and geographically diverse. Rain forests, deserts, islands, ocean, and mountains all in one place. You can do all kinds of outdoor activities, but unfortunately are limited by bad weather most of the year.

2. Well-educated: Seattle must be one of the most educated cities in the U.S. You'll find a plethora of intellectual opportunities and many fine educational institutions.

3. Tolerance: No one will look at you twice for dressing, acting, and leading the lifestyle you like, as long as you are not a conservative. Cross-dressers are not looked at twice, and no one bats an eye at men walking arm-in-arm. However, if you're a conservative you are a notch below "child molester" in the social pecking order here.

4. Vancouver, BC: Seattle's saving grace is that its so close to Vancouver. Vancouver's people are far more friendly, the nightlife is far superior, and the city is far cleaner.

Anyways, this is my opinion. I'd be interested in hearing what other people have to say.

[scirocco22]

*tsk* here we go again. We've talked about all these topics before ad nauseum but if you folks want to have another go-around, have at it.



Reminder: keep all "Seattle Freeze" discussions in the "Official 'Seattle Freeze' Discussion Thread" thread. I'm not going to be spending a lot of my time again dousing flames in several different threads on this subject.

[allforcats]

I find this thread boring and I don't even read posts of this nature anymore.

Choosing things to do that one enjoys is a much better use of the energies of one's life, instead of choosing to be unhappy, in relentless detail. Because choosing to be happy is what life is for. When you choose joy, you get joy! When you choose anger, you get anger! :-)
Hint: when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change :-)

[jr75]

Originally Posted by Relocater123

Granted, based on my own personal opinion and I don't mean to offend anyone here who loves Seattle. But if you're thinking about moving here, this is my personal experience/opinion and its fair to share it:

1. Weather: Its moist, overcast and dreary basically the entire year. About 8 weeks of the summer is gorgeous but the rest of the year is like living in Tupperware.

2. Infrastructre: Roads are decaying, buildings decaying, public transportation is horrible.

3. Cost of living: Through the roof. Seattle is about 25-30% above the national average. Maybe cheaper than Boston and San Francisco but more expensive than most places. A decent house in King County will cost 500K minimum, and a decent 1 bedroom apt rent is at least $1000.

4. Jobs: Generally not very well-paid considering the cost of living.

5. Nightlife: Horridly pathetic. Forget about it. Bars and nightclubs are just LAME. The city of Seattle has long since declared war on its nightlife. They pull drinks at 1:30 sharp. The state implemented one of the most fascist anti-smoking bans in the country. Furthermore, people either just sit around depressed or are too cool for their own good. Going out is pointless; people are generally rude in the bar scene and there is no party feeling anywhere. I used to love going out before I came here but now avoid it or go to Vancouver, BC or Portland to hang out.

6. Traffic: Unimaginably clogged. Forget about going anywhere between 7-10 AM and 3-6 PM. Under normal conditions people drive like snails (usually 5 mph below the speed limit). My first few months here I got flipped off on the road constantly and I had no idea why. Amazingly, as well, people have no idea how to drive in the rain.

7. Music scene: Nerd rock, post-punk. Grunge scene, for whatever it was worth, is gone.

8. Style and fashion: People dress like slobs here. On capitol hill, sometimes its hard to distinguish between the homeless and non-homeless.

9. Location: Because of its far northwestern geographic location, traveling to other parts of the continent/world is astonishingly difficult. Forget about flying to NYC for a weekend trip; because of the time change you leave Fri and arrive Saturday morning. Enjoy your 24 hours maximum anywhere else if you need to work on Monday. The only convenient destination from Seattle is Alaska...woohoo.

10. mod cut: comment in designated thread

In the interest in fairness, let me outline some good points about the area:

1. Nature: When the weather is nice, it is a gorgeous area and geographically diverse. Rain forests, deserts, islands, ocean, and mountains all in one place. You can do all kinds of outdoor activities, but unfortunately are limited by bad weather most of the year.

2. Well-educated: Seattle must be one of the most educated cities in the U.S. You'll find a plethora of intellectual opportunities and many fine educational institutions.

3. Tolerance: No one will look at you twice for dressing, acting, and leading the lifestyle you like, as long as you are not a conservative. Cross-dressers are not looked at twice, and no one bats an eye at men walking arm-in-arm. However, if you're a conservative you are a notch below "child molester" in the social pecking order here.

4. Vancouver, BC: Seattle's saving grace is that its so close to Vancouver. Vancouver's people are far more friendly, the nightlife is far superior, and the city is far cleaner.

Anyways, this is my opinion. I'd be interested in hearing what other people have to say.

First off, the weather. Why oh why do people move to Seattle and complain about the weather. If I was a native American I would especially be offended by this since for generations this land and it's weather have provided for people long before overpriveledged white folks decided to plop their asses down and "Boo Hoo I'm depressed" Nothing is more insane to me than people who willingly move somewhere they know to have a rainy climate and then whine about it. Most of the people I know who complain about the weather in Seattle have no appreciation for nature and its cycles. It's been raining for thousands of years, doing its thing, creating beauty and sustaining life then here comes these people who in one fell swoop come to the area and complain.
Nightlife in Seattle is not New York city but my god for a city its size it does just fine. This city gave rise to a cultural movement in music and has been a center for the arts for many years and continues to be. Vancouver? you have got to be kidding me. You can barely find live music in Vancouver or even a cool local pub the likes of Linda's on Capitol Hill. If your into huge dance clubs than I understand Seattle is not the place to be but for every other genre of art, Seattle is one of the best in the nation.
Seattle's geographic position. Another insane thing to have a complaint with, I mean come on, it's not like we are Hawaii or anything. That's all I have to say about that one it's just too ridiculous.
The Seattle Freeze. mod cut: comment in the designated thread
Yes traffic sucks and yes it is expensive, these two complaints are valid because it actually says something about the city leadership which could be helped.
Fashion is different for everybody, one of those complaints about the city which are superficial and don't really say anything about the quality of life.

[Relocater123]

I was very clear that this is just my opinion based on my own experience. If you've had a good experience, more power to you, but don't dismiss my opinion simply because you've had a different kind of experience here.

[seattlerain]

Oh dear, here we go again...

[jonjj]

Ya know, I traveled out to the northwest to see Victoria Island and Vancouver because I heard so many good things about them. They were nice but after I saw Seattle, I wished I made different travel plans because I thought Seattle had so much more character and vibrancy. I seriously can't think of a reason not to move there.

[Huckleberry3911948]

can't come. i bicycle. cannt bear unnecessary deaths of scores of giant slugs traversing the sidewalks.

[pwright1]

I love the nightlife
I get around just find with public transportation
I love the weather

I'm so glad the smoking band is in place. Now I don't have to smell
like a rotten chimney when I come out of the clubs.

No weekend trips to NY but I take weekend trips to Vancouver B.C.,
Portland and San Francisco quite often.

Grunge is gone but jazz is thriving so I'm happy.

Hey I think I dress pretty good.

[CityGirl72]

I actually love reading these threads - and I love complaining on them (it really really helps with my S.A.D to get my feelings out and see that there are others that feel the same.)

But everyone knows my opinion so I won't ramble on