I feel Bellevue is being destroyed (Seattle, Redmond: apartment, homes, neighborhoods)

[Hemlock140]

I had a business in Bellevue from 1993-2006, and while it got worse every year, in the afternoon the traffic as always jammed up getting across or out of the city. Simply the price to pay for a thriving city with a lot of retail and many medium-large employers. I suppose they could have done a better job of planning, but there have always been plenty of alternative routes depending on the time of day. For me, the Bel-Red to 520 was always faster than NE8th to 405 to 520, going home to Sammamish.

[Yakscsd]

So how many kids do you have? If more than two, then you are the source of the problem! So tired of people complaining about growth when they have done more than replicate themselves. Overpopulation is a cancer on the resources of this planet. People have to live somewhere, and Bellevue is a good choice for many reasons, including some that probably attracted your grandparents.

The situation is not nearly as bad as the OP claims, at least on a large scale. It may be bad in their neighborhood, but that's hardly an indictment on the whole city. Overall it has many positives, and even with the few negatives, it's better than much of the US.

[Scorpio2]

Originally Posted by Tall Traveler

i'll take Bellevue's trajectory of more great jobs, increasing housing prices and wealth, etc. over the trajectory of a place like Detroit or rural America where nobody wants to live and people are doing what they can to get out of there. Gates and Buffett have problems, but unemployed workers in Flint drinking chemical water have more to gripe about I'd say.

Would you like some tea or coffee with your Schadenfreude?

[west seattle gal]

The comment about kids and the urban "population problem" is a non sequitur for this discussion. The kids are not driving, they share the home with parents, and they don't necessarily stay in the same area to live when adults. The "population problem" in the Seattle urban area, including downtown Bellevue, can be attributed to singles and childless couples who fuel the endless 1 BR condo growth and rely on cars for single occupant transportation on the roads and highways. Seattle used to be more pleasant when it consisted of single family homes rather than shoebox condos, for the condos permit more automobile driving adults to fill the same volume of residential space as formerly 2 adults yet place an exponentially larger number of cars on the road. Homes are torn down to build condos with 10, 20, 30 or more units. It's a primary reason we left West Seattle.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by west seattle gal

The comment about kids and the urban "population problem" is a non sequitur for this discussion. The kids are not driving, they share the home with parents, and they don't necessarily stay in the same area to live when adults. The "population problem" in the Seattle urban area, including downtown Bellevue, can be attributed to singles and childless couples who fuel the endless 1 BR condo growth and rely on cars for single occupant transportation on the roads and highways. Seattle used to be more pleasant when it consisted of single family homes rather than shoebox condos, for the condos permit more automobile driving adults to fill the same volume of residential space as formerly 2 adults yet place an exponentially larger number of cars on the road. Homes are torn down to build condos with 10, 20, 30 or more units. It's a primary reason we left West Seattle.

I'm going to disagree that the kids do not cause traffic problems. Someone has to drop them off at school. With the lack of police services and sheer number of crazy people strung out on drugs wandering around driving kids to school is becoming more popular. Even kids living in the 'walk zone' of an elementary may have to pass by a drug house since the city isn't enforcing the drug free zones anymore.

[mkarch]

Originally Posted by deezramblin

I know. I was being a BIT dramatic, generally speaking. And I'm also speaking from the Seattle side.

I agree with you that this will continue to get closer to emulating the Bay Area before we see any any indicator of a plateau of growth and affordability. I give it 8-10yrs to reeeeaaalllly build that bubble up. But who knows, Trump wins and media stokes riots, ring of fire 'big one', more foreign policy 'Blowback'....who knows......

I digress...

There's exponentially more 'white collar' growth in the I-5 corridor than there is 'blue collar' exodus into the outskirts for now.

I work in Downtown Seattle behind a bar, and I hear from a looooooot of locals. Blue collar locals. Long-time Seattle-ites. Fixed income locals. The grumbling has been going on for last 2 years. Now that grumbling has been slowly changing to people taking action and moving. I'm doing it myself.

Sort of hijacked a Bellevue posting, but looks like the same thing may be happening there, too.

Bell/Kirk/Seattle can continue to go the way of San Fran, but expect there to be some SERIOUS growing pains and more insane city mandates on small business owners and landlords to attempt to 'level the playing field' THEY created. The big factor: this region is about 40 years behind the ball on transportation and infrastructure. Trying to make up for that all at once is a recipe for some turbulent times.

I'd go so far as to say the influx of white collar workers has created a dynamic where there's a huge incentive to get people to leave. And it appears to be working. There's a ton of money to be made in population turnover.

[Ruth4Truth]

Gridlock happens because cities don't do thorough planning. Back in the late 80's/early 90's, the Seattle City Council announced it would be pursuing a policy of increasing density, to control sprawl into the farmland. Sounded great--infill. Well, it never occurred to them that this would jam the streets and freeways with any more cars, and that they should have anticipated that, and planned for widening streets where possible, expanding public transit, and so forth. Cities seem to "plan" by promoting HALF of a good idea, and later discovering the other half, when it's too late to do anything about it.

OP, since you have what sounds like a well-established clan in Bellevue, why don't all of you band together and start participating in City Council meetings, to provide your feedback and suggest alternatives, or better ways to do what they're doing? It's your city council; you guys voted them in (or.....maybe not ). Exercise your right as citizens. Make your voices heard. Write letters to the editor of the local paper.

[townie123]

Originally Posted by Yakscsd

Overpopulation is a cancer on the resources of this planet.

Truer words were never spoken

[thedonwind]

Originally Posted by mkarch

So it's basically like Seattle except without all of the drug and crime problems?

Yes. But more dude-bros, and spankin Asian gals.

[Ruth4Truth]

Originally Posted by mkarch

So it's basically like Seattle except without all of the drug and crime problems?

What, the Bay Area? No, it's like Seattle except a bigger mess of clogged freeways (Lake WA is a mere puddle compared to the Bay), and more drug and crime problems, depending on the city.