DON'T Move to Seattle, it SUCKS! (Most of Washington too) (homeless, donated)

[usernametaken]

I was hoping that the few-days-a-week permanent work-from-home movement would lead to a small drop in our population right away. At least some people would surely decide to work from cheaper Yakima or Olympia if not required to commute to work daily :-)

But so far, any drop like that (if significant) is being more than counterbalanced by an increase from out-of-state folks moving here. New administration will likely also mean an increase in H-1b's, asylees, refugees etc.

Originally Posted by FLcycler

Would be more interesting to see the post-COVID numbers having just moved away myself due to the ridiculous COL and even more ridiculous never ending covid lockdowns... etc.... Seattle is now the worst metro in the country in job growth... with red states TX and FL at the top.

Still... if those numbers hold true it's only gonna make all this worse.

[folkguitarist555]

Originally Posted by primaltech

Not right now it isn't, as far as rent, anyway. Tons of apartments available for less than $1000.

More like studios available for under a $1000. A handful on capital hill. I doubt that will last long. They’ll shoot back up in price soon. And good luck finding parking anywhere in Capitol Hill

[folkguitarist555]

I have a huge heart for the homeless. But man, Homeless tent encampments everywhere not only around Seattle but all the way up to Everett and all the way down to Tacoma. I had a friend who used to live in a pretty large apartment complex in Lynnwood. I think she might have been the only one who spoke English in the entire complex. Yet our own? All those homeuess? Still in the streets. You guessed it. Compassion my butt.

[Scrat335]

Originally Posted by folkguitarist555

I have a huge heart for the homeless. But man, Homeless tent encampments everywhere not only around Seattle but all the way up to Everett and all the way down to Tacoma. I had a friend who used to live in a pretty large apartment complex in Lynnwood. I think she might have been the only one who spoke English in the entire complex. Yet our own? All those homeuess? Still in the streets. You guessed it. Compassion my butt.

The HIC (homeless industrial complex) has been given close to 400 million and have accomplished next to nothing. Salaries are paid, nice fat ones but this mess just gets worse.

It's everywhere now. Even Bellevue.

[Returning2USA]

Originally Posted by folkguitarist555

I have a huge heart for the homeless. But man, Homeless tent encampments everywhere not only around Seattle but all the way up to Everett and all the way down to Tacoma. I had a friend who used to live in a pretty large apartment complex in Lynnwood. I think she might have been the only one who spoke English in the entire complex. Yet our own? All those homeuess? Still in the streets. You guessed it. Compassion my butt.

Were they speaking many different languages or basically one foreign language.

I'm curious if they were on SNAP and WIC and other programs.

[Tall Traveler]

Originally Posted by usernametaken

I was hoping that the few-days-a-week permanent work-from-home movement would lead to a small drop in our population right away. At least some people would surely decide to work from cheaper Yakima or Olympia if not required to commute to work daily :-)

But so far, any drop like that (if significant) is being more than counterbalanced by an increase from out-of-state folks moving here. New administration will likely also mean an increase in H-1b's, asylees, refugees etc.

I thought the same would happen but not yet. My son has been working from home since the beginning of the pandemic and several of his friends have moved to Idaho and now he's planning to do it. His house has supposedly appreciated by over 500K in less than 2 years, crazy.

I mostly agree with the OP and wouldn't move back to the PNW personally.

[uniquetraveler]

Originally Posted by Returning2USA

Were they speaking many different languages or basically one foreign language.

I'm curious if they were on SNAP and WIC and other programs.

When the early Europeans from Germany, Italy, Spain emigrated to US, were they all speaking English right after landing at the shores? I am also curious what the Salish people were thinking when bunch of non-natives like Henry Yesler, George Vancouver and others started settling down in PNW. I guess they probably told the other tribes "don't move to Seattle it sucks.."

Sarcasm aside, we humans have an inherent nature to be fearful of the unknown and uncomfortable of change. The changes brought in to PNW by early settlers with growth of lumber industry, mining, sea port etc. were probably as foreign to the native americans as the growth of tech and biotech to the rural Washingtonians. European languages were "scary" to the salish people as mandarin, hindi, japanese is to the current crop of locals. But this is the circle of life, situation evolve over time and we just have to adapt/adjust and make the most of it. European settlers disrupted the way of life for the locals, but they also brought technology and industrialization leading to growth.. in today's knowledge-based economy, special skills are related to Artificial Intelligence, Quantum computing, synthetic biology etc. Having the best talent from across the world coming in will also make similar impact for the next few decades..

Some might still bring up the issue of "refugees" as they are not the highly skilled foreign workers mentioned above. Well, not all the early european migrants to US were highly skilled either, many were escaping persecution of the church. America has always been a bastion of hope for oppressed people from across the world, as it so aptly says in the national anthem " land of the free and the home of the brave"

[Returning2USA]

Originally Posted by uniquetraveler

When the early Europeans from Germany, Italy, Spain emigrated to US, were they all speaking English right after landing at the shores? I am also curious what the Salish people were thinking when bunch of non-natives like Henry Yesler, George Vancouver and others started settling down in PNW. I guess they probably told the other tribes "don't move to Seattle it sucks.."

Sarcasm aside, we humans have an inherent nature to be fearful of the unknown and uncomfortable of change. The changes brought in to PNW by early settlers with growth of lumber industry, mining, sea port etc. were probably as foreign to the native americans as the growth of tech and biotech to the rural Washingtonians. European languages were "scary" to the salish people as mandarin, hindi, japanese is to the current crop of locals. But this is the circle of life, situation evolve over time and we just have to adapt/adjust and make the most of it. European settlers disrupted the way of life for the locals, but they also brought technology and industrialization leading to growth.. in today's knowledge-based economy, special skills are related to Artificial Intelligence, Quantum computing, synthetic biology etc. Having the best talent from across the world coming in will also make similar impact for the next few decades..

Some might still bring up the issue of "refugees" as they are not the highly skilled foreign workers mentioned above. Well, not all the early european migrants to US were highly skilled either, many were escaping persecution of the church. America has always been a bastion of hope for oppressed people from across the world, as it so aptly says in the national anthem " land of the free and the home of the brave"

I agree with your points Unique but as you quoted my post your response is completely off-topic to my question.

[novavax]

The best days of Seattle are long gone. I lived in the area (Bellevue then Capitol Hill) in 2000’s. It was a wonderful time. I came back to visit in 2012. What a big change! Way too many people, everywhere. (I live in NYC.) For me, the best thing about Seattle was the laidback atmosphere. If I want the population density, high culture and excitement, I’d go to Manhattan and Paris. Seattle would never be like either. I once had a date with a girl I met at SAM. What an abomination! But now Seattle has the same NYC attitude and the property prices are fast approaching that level. The techies will ruin Seattle just like what they did to San Francisco.

They shouldn’t have paid the techies that much money. They are the equivalent of blue-collar workers of the yesteryear. Mules. Tasteless mules. Some even have degrees from Harvard and Princeton, but without the refined manners and tastes. I have dealt with many of them. The elite colleges have long ceased to be elite. They are just vocational institutions for the aspiring middle class donkeys.

[uniquetraveler]

Originally Posted by novavax

The best days of Seattle are long gone. I lived in the area (Bellevue then Capitol Hill) in 2000’s. It was a wonderful time. I came back to visit in 2012. What a big change! Way too many people, everywhere. (I live in NYC.) For me, the best thing about Seattle was the laidback atmosphere. If I want the population density, high culture and excitement, I’d go to Manhattan and Paris. Seattle would never be like either. I once had a date with a girl I met at SAM. What an abomination! But now Seattle has the same NYC attitude and the property prices are fast approaching that level. The techies will ruin Seattle just like what they did to San Francisco.

They shouldn’t have paid the techies that much money. They are the equivalent of blue-collar workers of the yesteryear. Mules. Tasteless mules. Some even have degrees from Harvard and Princeton, but without the refined manners and tastes. I have dealt with many of them. The elite colleges have long ceased to be elite. They are just vocational institutions for the aspiring middle class donkeys.

Calm down, it's the new year

- Every city does not need to be like NYC,Tokyo or London, but can aspire to be mid-tier global city like Boston, Milan, Sydney etc. Seattle along with few other cities in US like Miami, Denver is doing exactly that. There are some problems that comes with it like higher real estate price and homelessness, but those can be handled with the right mindset. No one wants to go backward like Detroit, Cleveland or other rust belt cities.

- Tech salary is a reflection of capitalism and free market economy, if the demand of certain skillset outstrips supply, salary increases to bring equilibrium. Also, tech business model /framework is vastly different than manufacturing-- in an airplane or auto manufacturing plant, the workers in the assembly line have almost equal output-- but a 1 good programmer/ coder can write a software that can be 100 times better than a poorly written one. Also, software companies can scale up with almost 0 additional cost, e.g. once MSFT Windows is built, millions of copies can be made with little to no additional cost. Similarly, netflix and facebook can scale from thousands to millions of users with relatively modest investment on data center/ servers. Whereas for Boeing, building 10 plane vs 1000 is a completely different scenario. Since profit margin is so high in tech (as there is little to no capital cost), companies can afford to pay high salaries for employees.