Thanks for the great introduction Michael! It’s true we are growing and my name is Vikrant (rhymes with croissant). Feel free to call me Vik. I’m hoping that my weekly column (still to be given a formal title) is enjoyable. It wasn’t difficult to come up with an idea for my first piece. With all of Michael’s amazing adventures and pictures on the site, my first inkling was to write about why! It just seems natural that we begin to substantiate some of our claims.
So here we go…five reasons Bellevue is better than Seattle. I dare you to knock any of these down!
- Better pedestrian experience. This is probably the most important. If you can’t enjoy walking around your city, why bother living in it? Granted it’s a bit tough in areas where there is construction, but it’s pretty smooth otherwise. Getting from one part of downtown to the other is pretty simple. The downtown area isn’t all that big in its current state and you really don’t have to walk far from anywhere you park to get around.
- 24 Companies are Headquartered in Bellevue. Need a list? Here’s some great news…most of them are hiring!
- 5th Cell
- ArenaNet
- Bellevue Nursery (been in Bellevue for 50 years)
- Bocada
- Brio Realty
- Centeris
- Coinstar
- Drugstore.com
- Eddie Bauer
- Microsoft’s North American Sales Headquarters
- Expedia, Inc.
- The Generations Network
- InfoSpace
- Paccar
- ShareBuilder
- Symetra
- T-Mobile
- Uievolution
- Valve Corporation
- WizKids
- Print Inc.
- Talyst
- QFC
- Zango
- In 2006 Money Magazine Ranked Bellevue, Washington to the Top 25 Places to Live. Here’s the link, I don’t think I need to comment on this one. Oh, by the way…I didn’t see Seattle on that list…oh, wait..I found it. It’s not ranked!
- Kemper Freeman, Jr. is making it happen. What isn’t he involved in around town? The boy just owns this town. Keep it up Kemper!
- Greater increase in property values over Seattle. Anyone who’s been reading the local Seattle Times over the last couple years has seen it over and over in the Sunday Editiona. The eastside continues to have increases in property values over Seattle.
So there we have it. Five reasons why Bellevue is a better city than Seattle. But hold up. Before everyone starts to point out what the city doesn’t have, let me remind you…we’re in the middle of an extreme makeover. The amazing thing is that we have an opportunity to put in to the city what we want. So, what do you want to see in downtown Bellevue? I guarantee you city officials are taking notes…
Make it happen!
Well I live in DT Bellevue, and think it’s great, however:
I don’t think DT Bellevue is great for walking around in, too many cars, and the huge blocks make it tough to get around. Luckily the City feels the same way, and is working to make things more pedestrian friendly.
I would also like to see some bike lanes, there is not even one downtown.
Overall though I love Bellevue, and love the growth as long as they can keep the bums away. I can’t wait to see this place in 5 years.
Why even bother getting into a urinating contest with Seattle? Apples and Oranges. The exciting thing about Bellevue is the “can do” atmosphere, not laden with bureaucratic political ineffective overbearing local government. I agree with Justin, it will be wonderful to see what happens over time in Bellevue.
Seattle is much more pedestrian friendly. But it is also many times bigger than Bellevue so it is hard to compare. Bellevue’s DT is only a dozen (big) blocks long vs. Seattle’s dozens of (smaller) blocks long.
I’d have to agree with a poster above. I don’t want to compare Bellevue to Seattle, because I don’t want Bellevue to be built into anything which resembles a Seattle. Truthfully Bellevue maintains it’s charm today because of it’s modest size. We are on the brink of this city becoming too elitist. We all need our Crossroads to keep us in check. 🙂
I agree with a lot of what you guys are saying. I think Bellevue is a more intimate city, and it is hard to “compare”, but that is what makes Bellevue better! It is not comparable.
Obviously some people like Apples and some people like Oranges. But I think Apples are better than Oranges.
I like Bellevue because of its classy and upscale atmosphere. It’s also very safe. You don’t have gangs and thugs congregating in Bellsquare and other bad things that people associate with urban downtowns. Me and my family feel much safer there than in downtown Seattle.
What do I wanna see?
Lot’s of public space with art (similar to Olympic Sculpture garden)
Museums (who cares about a Doll museum or Crafts – a real metropolitan museum art/science/whatever)
More nonchain restaurants
Live music venues
Sports team/sports arena
Observation tower (bigger than the Space Needle, please)
Large outdoor ampitheatre
All parks linked by bike paths and trails that do not intersect with automobile lanes.
Big outdoor public market (on weekends please)
We don’t have 3rd and Pike…
I love dt Bellevue but there’s no way that it offers a better pedestrian experience than Seattle. Actually, there is close to NO pedestrian experience in dt Bellevue since it’s so unwalkable. Hopefully with the increased density and the city’s focus on improving the pedestrian experience this will change but right now it’s not even a contest.
Does one have to be better than the other? Why can’t they just be two great places the complement each other?
I have to say, much of the one-upmanship and pettiness is coming from Eastsiders and not Seattleites.
DT Bellevue is not pedestrain friendly. It takes forever to get anywhere on foot and there’s nothing really to look at. The city is centered around a shopping mall and is filled with “successful millionaires” who make 50k/yr. Bellevue is just a clean Tacoma.