Bellevue: Pros and Cons (Seattle, Summit: houses, employment, neighborhoods)

[localasiangirl]

What are the pros and cons of living in Bellevue, Washington? I'm thinking about trying to live there for a while. Thanks.

[sofia76]

I've never lived in Bellevue, but I visited regularly when my husband was working (and living). Now my husband has a job offer in Bellevue so I've looked into moving our family there. From my perspective:

Pros:
lots of green spaces in the form of parks and trails
Bellevue Botanical Gardens
middle to high end shopping malls and restaurants in downtown Bellevue
quiet neighborhoods
a large Whole Foods
lots of Asian-food eateries
very close to Seattle
excellent K-12 schools
Lake Sammammish
family friendly in terms of stuff for kids to do
racially, culturally diverse (many people with origins from all over the Asian continent)

Cons:
I found it to be very driving dependent on the whole (unless you live right downtown)
housing is expensive
feels a bit generic in terms of shopping - not a lot of mom and pops
the original downtown is very tiny and not very interesting (to me)

[Redline]

Which part of Bellevue? The Crossroads area is very different from the Bellevue Square area.

[Inkpoe]

In addition to Sofia's list:

PROS:
-Enatai Park
-Mercer Slough. During the summer, you can go and pick blueberries.
-DT is very clean, and has a great park. Most buildings are newer. (Essentially a young town with lots of history.)
-Bellevue (Community) College
-High Elevation areas like Somerset, The Summit-- have great views.
-Crossroads Mall
-Uwajimaya. (They're going to remodel the one they have and expand it more!)

CONS:
-Having to deal with weird Seattleites who HATE Bellevue and everything it represents; therefore the whole Seattle vs. Eastside "war". Despite what people will say, it is a city in its own right.

[Ira500]

Pros:
Nice parks and trails
Good variety of shops and restaurants, including some awesome Indian restaurants
Not a bad commute to either Microsoft or downtown Seattle.
Increasingly vital downtown area.
Good employment center itself.
Good bus service from downtown Bellevue

Cons: Downtown Bellevue is trying to be Beverly Hills. Way too many BMWs and Mercedes. Too many high end stores. Expensive houses.
I will happily make fun of both Seattle and Bellevue.
As a generalization, Seattle has this holier than thou ecogroovy attitude, and Bellevue is too materialistic

[Akama13]

Cons: driving is a pain
Pro : close to everything

[JesseJB]

Pros: -eventually will have light rail to get you into Seattle
-bum control that Seattle could learn from if it wanted to

Cons: -nothing there seems classy for some reason, even if its giving it a good shot.
-Kemper Freeman. He doesn't like mass transit. How anti-modern can you get?

[CarlB328]

Bellevue is trying to be Beverly Hills. Way too many BMWs and Mercedes. Too many high end stores. Expensive houses