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!
