During the last year (and my first as a married person), Mr. miselainis and I have discussed the possibilities of uprooting our life down south and heading to the great northwest.
Our logic was simple last year-- the economy was still good, the climate was something we could both handle (even with all the rain), and it was close(r) to his family in Alberta, Canada (plus, we'd always be assured of great coffee). Now, things are a bit more complicated and we still are not positive where we want to end up. We've discussed the Great White North as an eventual option because of the possible terrorist threat, but are still not sure. Right now our financial situation is deciding for us, and we're staying put.
Theresa Morrow's excellent book was one of my research purchases when I began studying the housing market, neighborhoods, sights, shopping, dining, social climate, and all the other perqs Seattle could provide for us. I have to say that it is a heckuva book.
I learned so much about the city from its pages, I can't even begin to describe how much more informed I feel. It's a regular letter-paper size book with laminated paper cover, and about an inch or so thick. I paid what looked like a steep $19.95, but I consider it worth all the information I absorbed between the pages.
There are 20 chapters and an introduction, plus an index and a note about the author at the end. Morrow is a native, born and raised on Capitol Hill, attended UDub, and worked at the Times. There are other amusing details about her Gore-Tex attire.
Chapter One- Seattle From A to Z is a primer of cool details about the city, organized by letter. Notice for instance, the letter L. The letter L includes the following amusing and must-know information: Number of times Seattle Times columnist Jean Godden used the word Latte in her column in a year: 37. Number of times she used the word Latteland in her column in a year: 17. There is also the mandatory "Latte lingo" list. I caught myself studying it just to make sure that I hadn't missed something in my tenure at Starbuck's.
Chapter Two- Neighbor to Neighbor details the facet of Seattle I think I love the most: the neighborhoods. Coming from Austin, Texas, I never knew that wonderful sort of camaraderie that comes with feeling a kinship with your neighbors purely based on where you choose to hang your hat. This chapter gives you maps of the area, boundary streets which define the neighborhoods, the locations of neighborhood service centers, the positive and negative aspects of each neighborhood, the history of each, the real estate values, favorite hangouts thereabouts, movers and shakers (neighborhood associations), heroes and celebrities from that area, zoning stats, the approximate rents at the time of printing, property tax assessments, the population (broken down by median ages, single vs. married, homeowners vs. renters, and the causes for which the activists are well-known. This chapter alone is worth the price for the book. If you're contemplating a move to the Emerald City, check this section out. You won't regret it.
Chapter Three- Eastern Exposure is the same sort of chapter, but it covers the {{coff coff}} Eastsiders. This means those bedroom communities full of yuppies and urban sprawl. Microsoft is based on the Eastside. Check out descriptions of places like Issaquah, Kirkland, Bellevue, and Redmond here.
Chapter Four- Local Street Smarts discusses one of the main things Seattle is known for: its traffic. Think about it. There is water surrounding much of the city, and several million people trying to jam onto a few freeways that are built on what land there is going north and south through it. It spells major gridlock. This chapter is helpful in that it tells you the main arteries to avoid, and provides you with helpful shortcuts that usually only the locals know about. It also explains the rather confusing street grid and numbering system. It even gives you the main locations of the most collisions in the city and surrounding King County, the approximate travel time to work depending on your home base, parking facts, and tells you about the Toe Truck (the tow truck with the giant fiberglass toes on top). Didn't I say this was a great book?
Chapter Five- Carless in Seattle describes Seattle's public transit system (buses, park and ride, the bus tunnel, walking, pedestrian shortcuts, bicycles, and fares for the stuff). I have a car. I didn't pay as much attention to this one. Seattle, like many other cities, is still "discussing" light rail. The airport information is also included in this chapter.
Chapter Six- The Concrete Jungle covers anything and everything you might want to know about downtown, from the largest hotels to facts about the high-rises, Pike Place Market, and other activities (not to mention the helpful locations of some public restrooms!)
Chapter Seven- The Buck Stops Here is an overview of the financial statistics of Seattle’s wealthiest citizens and the companies they work for, including take-home pay, company stats, bosses, and other resources.
Chapter Eight- The Powers That Be is a quick primer of Seattle politics, including the addresses of the folks at City Hall, the City Council, the process behind bills, citizens on committees, tax dollar usage, yearly revenue and expenses, a City of Seattle Organization Chart, where to address complaints, resources for city and county offices (like marriage licenses, job lines, and the parks and recreation departments), the court system, the port of Seattle, and other civic concerns.
Chapter Nine- Film at Eleven discusses media in Seattle, from the daily and weekly papers to neighborhood rags, trade publications, local magazines, radio stations, TV affiliates, and other local information outlets.
Chapter Ten- Canvases and Curtain Calls covers the local arts scene. This encompasses everything from organizations and committees to the local museums to music venues, theater locations and ticketing information. It provides great info on the best and worst seats at city theaters and independent cinemas. It also lists the local publishers, literary magazines and events, libraries and services.
Chapter Eleven- What Good Sports! is an overview of, what else? The Mariners, Seahawks, and Supersonics. It also gives essential information for fans about stadiums and ticketing, plus info on leisure-time participation sports, such as watersports in and around the city. There is also a lengthy list of athletic playing fields.
Chapter Twelve- Ethnicity: Diversity At Work provides charts full of information about minorities in and around Seattle and how their populations are broken down. These statistics also include the native languages spoken in the home, unemployment by race, population change by race, populations by area of the city, and headings for each: The African American Community, the American Indian Community (NOTE: It is not called Native American in the book…), the Asian, British, Chinese, Filipino, Germans from Russia, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Korean, Latino, Latvian & Lithuanian, Nordic, Russian & Ukrainian, Samoan, Southeast Asian, Welsh, and other communities.
Chapter Thirteen- Democracy in Action gives any possible address and phone number that a budding activist could want—from those on Capitol Hill (the one in Washington, not the one in Seattle), to the local ones for affordable housing, AIDS, animal lovers, consumer advocates, domestic violence, the environment, peace and justice, political parties, social services, women’s issues, and others.
Chapter Fourteen- Lending a Hand describes Seattle’s problems with the homeless, and explains the solutions in place for housing and assisting the unfortunate. It breaks the homeless ranks down into those dealing with alcohol or drug abuse, domestic violence, etc. It also contains a section on runaways. Kind of a depressing chapter, actually.
Chapter Fifteen- Seattle School Daze explains Seattle’s public school system and its alternatives. Thank God this is one chapter I don’t have to pay that much attention to. But it looks pretty informative if you have kids and plan on relocating. The public schools are all analyzed according to their # of students, special programs, minorities attending, test scores, reduced or free lunches, and necessary disciplinary action there. I’m used to the constant bickering and uselessness of the Dallas ISD, which is a model of unorganized, wasteful chaos in action. These scores look pretty good by comparison. The private schools are analyzed by their enrollment figures, teacher/student ratio, academic emphasis, waiting list, application procedure, and tuition.
Chapter Sixteen- The City Says Ahhhh analyzes the state of the city’s health as a whole. It includes the city’s top health complaints (stomachaches are #1. Too much coffee maybe?), rates of C-section births, STDs, a guide to Seattle Hospitals, substance abuse information, local mortality rates, AIDS figures, preferred suicide methods (!), and other necessary information.
Chapter Seventeen discusses crime in the city. This includes police facts like precinct locations, the murder rate, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, robbery, theft, narcotics, auto theft, juvenile crime, and it includes maps showing where the majority of each are the most common.
Chapter Eighteen- Hammers Saws and Permits discusses the Weekend Warrior phenomenon here, where 70% of the dwellings are zoned for single family residences. As a joke, a PERMOPOLY game is included to help you navigate the maze of permits and other red-tape you have to go through to upgrade here. Information about architects, contractors and the like is provided, as is information about common Seattle house ailments (mildew and rot rank right up there). Lots of other great do-it-yourself information here, but like the author says, “Just make sure your Yurt conforms to all city codes.”
Chapter Nineteen- Green Grows the City explains the wonderful flora and fauna that flourish in wonderfully green Seattle. Seagulls and bird-watching are discussed, as is “Herschel,” the affectionate name given to the all in the group of sea lions who feast on steelhead trout near the Hiram Chittenden Locks. The salmon culture is covered, and resources for fishing are talked about as well. The rat patrol number is evidently a good one to have, in case you run into the little critters, and bats and lizards are also native. Fortunately, Seattle has no dangerous snakes. If you’re into gardening, there are plenty of resources for you in this chapter, including the annual precipitation, hardness and softness of water, water usage, and raw sewage factors. Air pollution, air quality, recycling, garbage, etc.
Chapter Twenty- Whither the Weather discusses all things rainy and otherwise in “Latteland.” Charts are included for the number of cloudy days per month, the number of cloudy days per year, elevations in the city, prevailing winds, rainy days per year, relative humidity by month, monthly precipitation, solar radiation stats, normal daily temperatures, earthquakes and tremors, and sunshine.
As I said, this book is a goldmine of information for anyone considering relocating to Seattle. When I was casually shopping around for apartments or other lodging, I used some of the online apartment sites, and flipped back and forth between the computer and this book. I don’t think it gets much more thorough. My only complaint might be that the illustrations are a bit simple for a book that is otherwise such a thorough read. The 4th Edition should include illustrations that are more detailed or more well-drawn. These are a bit amateurish.
Recommended:
