Seattle is utterly soulless (Spokane: buying, bus, car)

[tkz4]

Originally Posted by Bluefox

Well I think that's part of the problem. South Lake Union IS boring as hell.

Amazon's failing efforts to build a neighborhood could be a bad omen - Business Insider

The consolidation of tech tends to have a very sterilizing effect on the host area. So we can talk about how quickly Seattle is growing or how much it's "booming" but long term I think we have to ask ourselves what sort of city do we want to be?

I think it is a bit premature to call SLU a failure. Fact is that downtown Seattle was fairly modest as recently as 15 years ago, and vibrant 18 hr/day neighborhoods generally don't just spring up overnight. Economic development (much of it Amazon) led to increased jobs and daytime vibrancy. But it will take another 5-10 years to fully build out all of the residential density to where you have a large enough local populace to extend that vibrancy beyond business hours, but it is on track to happen.

Now I don't ever expect a "new urban neighborhood" basically built from scratch to ever have the same character as one that grows up more organically. For example, Pioneer Square has much more potential than SLU because of its legacy architecture and layout that lends more character and a better pedestrian experience. But that does not mean SLU is somehow doomed to remain sterile and empty after 5PM. It just happens to still be largely under construction at the moment- but has good potential due to its geography. It really helps that it is flat and contiguous with the city's densest neighborhoods and Lake Union itself.

It likely will always be too high rent to support great indie type shops and restaurants. I expect it will be more like Streeterville in Chicago (with downtown Pike/Pine being more like the Mag Mile), with tons of expensive highrises and lots of pricey hotels. And that type of neighborhood tends not to be a favorite with locals (for good reason.) But that type of neighborhood helps the downtown overall by increasing the size and scope of the downtown and increasing the base of local consumers that live and walk to all of the downtown neighborhoods. You put 15,000 residents in SLU, all of whom want a "urban lifestyle" and it really should help support increased vibrancy in Belltown LQA, downtown, Pioneer Sqr, the International District and SODO, even if SLU itself is more "sterile" in terms of its dining and retail due to high rents.

[KonaldDuth]

Seattle has vibrancy

(1) at Green Lake on sunny weekends
(2) at Capital Hill on Saturday nights
(3) at/around Husky Stadium on game days like today
(4) on Lake Union in the Summer
(5) on the Burke-Gillman trail almost always

for example.

What's lifeless is residential neighborhoods since most houses aren't occupied by families but rather by aged hippies or no one (i.e. Chinese investors) or a dozen random 20-somethings. Like 90% of Seattle looks like Detroit.

[dav51lin]

Originally Posted by AADAD

Are we having a bad day?

that is easy in seattle wa

[Masterful_Man]

"Seattle is utterly soulless".

Ok...move.

[homesinseattle]

That's what it comes down to, Masterful. If a place doesn't work for someone, find someplace that does. Life is too short to wake up each day and feel unfulfilled and miserable. I still love it here and many others do too.

[jrt1979]

Originally Posted by Finance2Tech

It lacks the diversity, urban dynamism, nightlife, and social energy of a truly great city such as NYC and Chicago. Rather, it is a glorified suburb and company town, filled with tech robots whose lives revolve around coding.

The fact that Seattle lacks diversity is one of it's biggest selling points honestly. You get to say that you live in Seattle; therefore, you're open minded, but you don'r ever have to actually live next to blacks anf browns,

[homesinseattle]

Yuch jrt, I hope you don't feel that way yourself. As I mentioned before, "Maybe our diversity looks different than your definition. There is plenty here though if you open your eyes. Huge Ethiopian, Eritrean, Somali communities. Korean, Mexican, Central American, Filipino, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Laotian, East Indian, Chinese, Thai, Sudanese, Pacific Islander too".

[mhays25]

Some people like jrt aren't prepared to live in the real world.

[Tim Randal Walker]

Originally Posted by homesinseattle

If a place doesn't work for someone, find someplace that does.

What are you looking for in life? For example, if I were looking for a place to raise a family, I would choose Seattle over NYC.

[Highpointer]

Originally Posted by usamathman

Most single men only need three things to be happy

1. a good paying job in
2. a city with decent nightlife and
3. a decent selection of women.

Take one of these away and his experience will begin to decline. Take two away and he will most likely be extremely miserable.

One thing I've noticed about Seattle. One would expect that there would be many single women in this region, but I have attended dating events and social mixers, and usually the ratio of men to women is significantly greater than 1. I recall one event where I volunteered to help check people in, and based on a rough count of people on the list, there were about 30 men and 12 women, for a 2.5 to 1 male/female ratio.

It appears to me that I meet some women at events, but they are not really interested in meet guys. For example, I met one girl near the beginning of an event, and she said she was a high school teacher. Sometime during the event, I wanted to ask for her number but she had left. Because I knew where she worked, I looked up her name on the school's directory, and sent a brief note asking why she had left early. She replied that she had left early because there were no guys at the event that she was interested in, even though there were many guys at the event who likely had better jobs and were better-looking than me.

Therefore, this was one rejection that was not too disappointing to me, because she apparently rejected all of the guys at the event.