|
 |
|
What is wrong with Seattle ?
Posted by: Submit_News |
|
|
Topic Theories
I grew weary of living in Chicago for over ten years. It seemed like a city on the decline. I couldn't find technical work, I was burned out, and it was time to leave. The last straw was getting parking ticket for a location of the city I had never been (there was a transcription error of the offender's license plate). I fought it for a year and eventually had it dismissed. The modis operandi of the city is to dig in, send nastygrams, and assume the person will give up fighting it and pay.
I applied for many full time technical jobs but heard no response. I wound up getting a temp job that required a 25 mile commute. It was something though. Meanwhile I tried to find an apartment near the university as I wanted to get a job working there or near there. Time after time I was ignored. Almost no one called me back. Slowly I learned that there is a kind of monopoly on overpriced slummy apartments in the U District. Capitol Hill was/is being invaded by developers driving up rent and chasing out what made the area interesting and "hip". (cough cough) I purposely avoided Queen Anne because I assumed it was yuppie and expensive. It turned out to be the cheapest non slum available.
A couple months later I finally found a tech job contract that predictably was cut two to five months early and have been looking for the next job. During this downtime it dawned on me.
Seattle really sucks.
[public transportation]
Taking the bus to that tech job wasn't a big deal but because it was swing shift I'd have to take at *least* three busses to get home. It was only a distance of six miles or so. If it was three or under I would have walked. Public transportation for population of this size is fairly crappy.
[traffic congestion - ha!]
I have heard people whines about traffic out here. I laughed. You've got a few major arteries I-5, I-405, etc. It's not like you have I-80, I-94, I-290, I-294, I-55, I-57 and ALL of them are backed up. And what is up with the tailgating? People drive *fast* back in Chicago but I don't recall as much angry tailgating. Also note that a red light in Chicago means three more cars are going through, but I digress. I think the way people make left turns into traffic from side streets is actually illegal back in the midwest. It scared the hell out of me when I initially saw people gunning out to settle into the middle "turn only" lane.
[Weather]
When it snowed people seem to have some kind of instinctual reaction to panic around here. Geez, its *just snow* not the Grim Reaper's dandruff. Maybe its because they don't salt the roads out here? EG use something that melts the snow (and destroys your car, the environment, etc). I told my friends back in the Midwest that Seattle just feels like "Perpetual March" so far. I don't mind it so much since I rarely go outdoors (a problem in itself) but I see why the constant grey skies drive people to suicide.
[Decay]
I noticed that there seems to be a layer of dirt on all the concrete in the urban areas. Driving around I realized where the term "grunge" comes from now. And what is up with the taggers? Graffiti on green highway signs? I thought it was weird that in Chicago you can't buy canned spray paint within the city limits...but it seems to have cut down on the tagging.
[People]
Strangers seem friendly enough when I fall into one of those "golly gee whilikers" Midwestern moments I can't restrain but overall there seems to be a passive-aggressiveness to this city that I can't quite define. Never mind a particular local online forum I stumbled into. Just think of "seething hate pit" and you'll know which one I'm talking about.
Class resentment seems to be out in the open. Back in December I witnessed a Mercedes "stuck" on the ice on a small hill in the U District. A crowd of people gathered to watch this driver gun the engine and the tires spun rapidly. I heard one passerby remark, "I'd help him but he's got a Mercedes. He can afford snow tires. F*ck him." Later I saw a lanky fellow direct the car back to the curb to gain traction and escape.
[Employers]
I learned to really really hate technical recruiters back in the midwest. Completely shifty and avoiding putting anything in writing/email. Holding my nose I started to try to work with them again and the are the same here but offer about 25% less in pay. I don't know if that is the actual cost of living differential or if they are simply taking more of the client bill rate. I tend to believe/assume the latter. But since knowing the bill rate is verboten I don't know. I also theorize with the constant churn of layoffs and frustration with the "giant megacorps" around here that the pool of talent is actually higher than the available jobs offered. Salaries are even a bigger joke. Part of a larger plan to import cheap H1-B labor but that's a whole other topic.
["Boing"]
I saw the move of "that airplane HQ" to Chicago as a big freaking joke. I suspected it was a way to get out from under a labor contract in Washington, automatically layoff a bunch of people who couldn't make the transition, and sucker the city for a tax break because they "brought jobs "to the area. Pfft. What jobs? CEO sycophants ? Hookers dressed like flight attendants?
[Conclusions?]
Its all anecdotal I know. I think if I was 10-15 years younger, I'd probably fit in better or find some niche and a real job again. I'd be working 60-80 hours a week but a job at least because anyone over 40 (or even 30) who is still in tech and isn't *managing* is some kind of underachieving freak.
I told a friend the other day, Seattle is like Chicago but missing all the things I *liked* about Chicago. (Or took for granted).
*Public transportaton.
*Bars that stay open until 5:00 AM (and you can drink if you wanted to) on the weekends. I miss that only for the fact you can procrastinate until midnight and then go out...and have more than 90 minutes to socialize.
*All of my favorite restaurants are there. I haven't found the "Seattle versions" of them yet.
*I still have friends and a work/social network there. (Duh.)
I really "liked" voting for something that was non binding. I don't know if anyone has pointed out that it was basically a poll paid for by taxpayers. I think I came here four or five years too early. Maybe after they get the public transporation up and running and work out what they want to do with the stupid tunnel / viaduct. Course by then they will have spent their money cleaning the remains of the Mount Renier mudflow disaster of 2009.
I'm conspiring to return to Chicago. Soon.
Signed,
Event_Horizon
|
|
|
| What is wrong with Seattle ? | Log-in or register a new user account | 392 Comments |
|
| Comments are statements made by the person that posted them.
They do not necessarily represent the opinions of the site editor. |
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ?
by Anonymous-Coward on May 01, 2007 - 02:25 PM
|
Ironic... this was posted by the person on this site that moved back to Chicago last year!!
Looks like he created a new persona to tell the whole story over again as a different person.
I swear... the sad reality of this web site is pathetic.
We get it... Seattle was hyped too much for you. Nothing lives up to hype. Its true in all aspects of life. We get it. Move on.
Its generally a pretty good place to live.
YOU EXAGGERATE TO EXTREME LEVELS TO PROVE SEATTLE DID NOT LIVE UP TO THE HYPE.
YOU KNOW IT... I KNOW IT... THE HANDFUL OF THE PEOPLE THAT READ THIS STUFF KNOW IT.
|
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 04, 2007 - 06:23 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 08, 2007 - 01:51 AMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 10, 2007 - 10:24 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 08, 2007 - 07:47 PM
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ?
by Anonymous-Coward on May 01, 2007 - 02:59 PM
|
For the person cheering on California... in the news today...
______________________________________
L.A. again tops list of nation's most polluted
Pittsburgh area ranks second in American Lung Association's listing
LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles can continue being the butt of smog jokes now that it has once again topped the American Lung Association's bad air list of most polluted cities in America.
The association found that the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Riverside metropolitan area had the worst air based on 2003 through 2005 figures.
The Pittsburgh area was ranked as the nation's second most polluted metropolitan area followed by Bakersfield, Calif., Birmingham, Ala., Detroit and Cleveland. Visalia, Calif., Cincinnati, Indianapolis and St. Louis rounded out the top 10.
|
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 01, 2007 - 06:03 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 01, 2007 - 07:49 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 02, 2007 - 05:05 AMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 02, 2007 - 05:03 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 03, 2007 - 12:09 AM
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ?
by Anonymous-Coward on May 04, 2007 - 02:28 PM
|
SAM PROPELS SEATTLE
______________________________________
In all the episodes of Seattle's still-young history, the latest, the Philanthropy Age, is perhaps the most enjoyable and rewarding.
Three months ago, Seattle Art Museum launched its dazzling Olympic Sculpture Park, an innovative outdoor showcase of sculpture and scenery. Here comes SAM again, unveiling another big addition to the cultural landscape, a major expansion of its downtown building.
Such investments are reflective of a maturing city, of civic and business leaders with a remarkable combination of vision, wealth and generosity. The opening of the new building, combined with SAM's 75th anniversary next year, resulted in gifts of nearly 1,000 works from more than 40 collections.
It all comes together in the new, dramatically expanded museum, which more than doubles public and exhibition space. The opening of the new, improved museum is bigger and more fantastic in many ways than the move of the original museum 16 years ago from Volunteer Park to First Avenue and University Street.
Seattle is getting used to — OK, spoiled by — many stellar new buildings: the stunning downtown public library, symphony hall, opera house and SAM museums, plural. American Style magazine just named Seattle one of the top five big-city arts destinations, behind more obvious picks, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
When future citizens look back on this era, they will be blown away by the energy and investment that propelled the city forward.
For now, Seattle is pushing forward, becoming a force in art because a group of people got together, crafted a vision, reached deep into private collections and worked like crazy to create a terrific new gathering space. The place is a treasure trove in the truest sense of the term.
|
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 04, 2007 - 06:19 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 05, 2007 - 02:22 AMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 06, 2007 - 09:30 AM
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ?
by Anonymous-Coward on May 05, 2007 - 07:45 AM
|
This place is just boring and sucks.
The passive aggressive thing, avoiding eye contact, paleness, xenophobia, traits are all endemic of cultures that were eventually obliterated by stronger cultures. Maybe that's why Seattle is so xenophobic and defensive -- it's a plea for the emigrants to conform, else their torpid way of life be erased.
The people here are some of the most pedantic, ignorant, pretentious rednecks I've ever met.
The fucking space needle was abandoned after a world's fair. Admit it, the apex of Seattle's architecture was some shit that the carnies couldn't be bothered to haul away.
What the fuck is that iron squashed tomatoe supposed to be?
A friend who visited me here, who'd recently gone to South America, compared Seattle's skyline to La Paz, Bolivia (one of the poorest third world countries).
Pike Place is a flea market with stone walls.
The aquarium has pictures of fish and sea mammels that it wish it could afford.
What else? Shitty traffic, bullshit psuedo-culture -- nice weather lately but so the fuck what?
Blah, blah, blah,, lake bullshitonka, blah, blah, bullshit statistics, blah, blah, a few (not you, mind you, but other rich people) millionaires and billionaires live here. Blah, blah, fittest homo population, fattest non-asian female population.
Nice. Yeah, it's great. Come live here. Buy my fucking house from me and an exhorbitant price (I'll even only take a few doorknobs and cabinets when I move out, and only leave 3 squatters) so I can move the fuck on.
|
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 08, 2007 - 10:59 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 08, 2007 - 11:12 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 09, 2007 - 02:22 AMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 09, 2007 - 03:29 AMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 09, 2007 - 03:30 AM
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ?
by Anonymous-Coward on May 09, 2007 - 04:57 PM
|
Ahhhhh California....
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18562491/
Hell on Earth.
And its only early May.
Dried up wasteland. They said 80% of the trees in the Southern California mountains ae dead from drought and smog.
So pretty.
|
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 09, 2007 - 06:40 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 09, 2007 - 06:14 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 09, 2007 - 05:29 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 09, 2007 - 05:39 PM
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ?
by Anonymous-Coward on May 09, 2007 - 10:42 PM
|
|
A LOT of my friends have moved from this Puget Sound region to the Bay Area. Those who remain here are either already married or just married, so they don't wish to introduce any new changes, such as moving. Each year I lose more and more friends to California. However, I do not consider that a "loss", since they visit Seattle often and they're genuinely interested in keeping in touch with me. They tell me the same thing over and over again, "Move to the Bay Area - your career and dating life will improve. I implore you to move." I have a couple of friends here in Seattle who are single, successful, attractive, but not dating due to the losers here in the NW. They recently proposed to me that we should all move together to the Bay Area, live together temporarily, and aggressively look for work there. I'm seriously considering it. This fall I'll make a decision and move.
|
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 09, 2007 - 11:03 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 09, 2007 - 11:11 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 09, 2007 - 10:59 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 09, 2007 - 11:49 PM
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ?
by Anonymous-Coward on May 10, 2007 - 11:12 AM
|
"In my practice, I've seen how people have allowed their humanity to drain away. Only it happened slowly instead of all at once. They didn't seem to mind...All of us - a little bit - we harden our hearts, grow callous. Only when we have to fight to stay human do we realize how precious it is to us, how dear." A quote from "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" 1956. A good movie depicting the shitattle transplant experience, there is also the 1978 version starring Donald Sutherland.
|
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ?
by Anonymous-Coward on May 10, 2007 - 02:36 PM
|
Some comments yesterday from the Seahawks new assistant head coach Jim Mora. A man could not wait to get BACK to Seattle.
______________________________________
"I felt like I was in a win-win situation," Mora said. "I was either going to get a chance to be the head coach of the Miami Dolphins or come back to my favorite place on Earth, Seattle, and coach for a team that my dad coached for years and years ago. To be quite frank, it's kind of a dream for me. ... It's great to be back here. I love it."
Inevitably, the question came up regarding his offhand remark last December in a radio interview, a comment about returning to Seattle in a heartbeat to coach the Huskies even if the Falcons were in the middle of a playoff run.
"I've never, ever hidden my love for the Great Northwest, as we all know," Mora said.
It just feels [like] where I belong," he said.
|
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 10, 2007 - 05:19 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 11, 2007 - 12:35 AM
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ?
by Anonymous-Coward on May 10, 2007 - 02:42 PM
|
CA... nothing but shiny, happy people!!
__________________________________
California man dies attempting to decapitate himself
La Habra, Calif.
A man cut off his mother's head with a circular saw and died trying to decapitate himself, authorities said.
Police answered a 911 report of a family dispute at a home Tuesday, entered a locked bedroom and found the body of Guadalupe Ruiz, 60, on a bed, La Habra police spokeswoman Cindy Knapp said.
Arthur Ruiz Jr., 32, was on another bed with the saw nearby. He had died of neck injuries, police said.
|
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 10, 2007 - 05:22 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 10, 2007 - 05:58 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 11, 2007 - 05:57 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 10, 2007 - 05:58 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 11, 2007 - 06:03 PM
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ?
by Anonymous-Coward on May 10, 2007 - 11:23 PM
|
This whole thread is turning truly bizarre. People respond to Blueberry like he is worth the time or effort to respond to.
He is a classic narcissist who thinks his opinion and only his opinion truly matters. If you like Chicago, he will tell you why you can't like Chicago. If you hate Seattle, then you are not permitted to hate or have an opinion negative toward Seattle because he thinks Seattle is just great.
What's worse than Blueberry being a narcissist? All you idiots (and I must say I respond to his stupidity sometimes so I am including myself) who argue with him. Look back at his previous posts. He claims that he doesn't spend much time here. How many posts has he made? Does it look like he spends just a little bit of time here?
How many of you talk to people walking down the street talking to themselves? I would say none of you. Because they are NUTS. Blueberry is NUTS. He talks to hear himself talk. He loves to create arguments. Just ignore him. He is a bully who craves this attention. And you all give it to him. Force him to find some friends.
|
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 11, 2007 - 12:16 AMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 11, 2007 - 06:11 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 12, 2007 - 07:35 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 11, 2007 - 06:18 PMRe: What is wrong with Seattle ? by Anonymous-Coward on May 13, 2007 - 08:42 AM
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ?
by Anonymous-Coward on May 11, 2007 - 08:55 PM
|
Hey blueberry, where is the SUN?
Dumbfuck.
|
Re: What is wrong with Seattle ?
by Anonymous-Coward on May 21, 2007 - 04:24 AM
|
|
Conestoga wagons.
|
|
