Stop by the Seattle chapter of Drinking Liberally to meet the local bloggers, and you’ll find that several of us originally hail from Philadelphia… though in fact, I don’t think that any of us technically grew up within city limits. I was 3 years old when my family moved out to the burbs for the usual reasons — better schools, safer streets, a little plot of land — but like most of the region’s natives, even those growing up across the river in New Jersey, I’ve always self-identified as a Philadelphian. We rooted for the same teams, consumed the same media, enjoyed or suffered the same local economy, and relied on “Center City” Philadelphia as our cultural and economic core. Of course, I could be more accurate and cop to growing up in Bala Cynwyd, but that sort of geographic specificity would actually be less useful to most folks from outside the region. Besides, which of the many Philadelphia suburbs I grew up in defines me a helluva lot less than the city these suburbs grew up around.
And so a couple of headlines in today’s Seattle Times op/ed page got me thinking about what I’ve long felt to be one of the greatest weaknesses of my adopted region: its determined resistance to establishing (or admitting to) a regional identity. In a column titled “The Eastside’s edge“, Lynn Varner lavishes praise on the booming economies of Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Issaquah and Renton, daring to hope for a “geographic shift of the region’s power center”, while at the same time an unsigned editorial looks less favorably on the city proper, opining “A changing Seattle, and not for the better“.
Uh-huh. This sort of neeter-neeter-neeterism not only does little to encourage the kind of regional “rapprochement” for which Varney claims she hopes, but actually distorts our understanding of the local economy, for the changes taking place both in Seattle and its surrounding suburbs are not only integrally linked, but are actually quite typical of growing metropolitan regions nationwide. Indeed, if not for Lake Washington’s geographic barrier it is likely that much of the Eastside would have been annexed long ago — just as Seattle did to neighboring communities to the North and the South — thus this supposed competition between cities would mostly be taking place within city limits. As if that really mattered.
City lines may determine school district boundaries, tax rates, land use regulations and other errata of modern life, but we are all one metropolitan region with shared cultural, economic, and increasingly, political interests. That Boeing lost that big Air Force tanker contract is a blow to the entire region, not just to the folks on the 767 assembly line up in Everett. If the Sonics sneak out of town in the middle of the night it will be a loss to sports fans throughout Western Washington. Those “music halls, sports stadiums, parks, [and] open space” the Times writes about are enjoyed by families in Ravenna and Renton alike, regardless of where these public amenities are located — hell, I even once ran into Tim Eyman and his Mukilteo-based family enjoying the taxpayer subsidized facilities at Seattle’s Children’s Museum. And then there’s the Times itself, a newspaper printed in Bothell and published by Mercer Islanders, but that still claims the place name “Seattle” in its masthead. We are the world.
Yet folks from around here are more likely to tell you that they’re from Bellevue or Kirkland or Redmond than to admit to being citizens of goddamn Seattle, despite the fact that you old timers all seem to worship the same TV clown and apparently share the same savant-like ability to distinguish between a 737-500 and a 737-600 by the distant sound of its engines. (Not to mention the regional, one-week obsession with hydro races. What’s up with that?) I mean, really… to this 16-year transplant, you natives all look alike.
Let’s be honest, like my home town of Bala Cynwyd, nobody outside of the region even knows how to pronounce Issaquah, let alone cares where it is; hate to tell ya folks, but as far as the rest of the world is concerned, Issaquah is just another Seattle neighborhood. The first step toward working together to solve our region’s problems is self-identifying as one, so let’s drop all this petty localism, recognize our shared interests, and march arm in arm toward achieving a common goal on which we can all agree: kicking the spandex-clad asses of those bike-worshiping, bastards down in God forsaken Portland. Go team.
At the rate we’re paving over this country, Seattle will soon be a suburb of Philadelphia anyway.
When I was a young bunny, I thought any town with a name like “Bala Cynwyd” had to be full of Republicans.
How do you pronounce that, anyway?
You just don’t understand our western ways, Goldy. Face it, you’re incorrigibly and irreparably an Easterner. Don’t feel bad about it — you can’t help where you were born and raised — but you stayed there too long and it’s no longer possible for you to acclimatize to western culture.
No problem,
So long as the Seattle centric crowd quits shitting on us that aren’t in Seattle. Insert CAO here.
Issaquah = Spokane Neighborhood.
Anything east of Factoria = Eastern Washington.
Goldy I was born in Philadelphia also but really Upper Derby but never claim to be from the East Coast. Point being made today is not indentation but who is more progressive in the Northwest. Oh I make it a point never to ID from Seattle after visiting London in 2004. One lady claiming to be from Seattle wearing blue hair force me to gag my wife and informed everybody we were from Redmond where their software was produced. Yes Goldy Seattle is still living in the small city mind set and will take years to mature or it will look like East Saint Louis. Now you statement about competition it really does not existed because the Eastside has beaten Seattle by a long shot. You have no one to blame gut the clowns running city hall and the NIMBY’s living in your neighborhoods. When Pot-hole Nickels fixes the streets in Seattle without shaking down the State for the expenses, then you might see some change. Until you get mass transit in Seattle without the use of bicycles maybe then you will join the 21 Century. When you are able to drive thru Seattle at 70 mph without stopping you can join the human race. When you dispose your human waste within city limits maybe then you will be green. When you produce all your energy and disposal your garbage within County limits maybe then you will not need foreign oil. Yes Goldy that can be done today with present day technology. The greatest challenge today is bring the middle class worker back into the city. Let not forget the Religious freedoms that you purge the city with your laws of Political Correctness that encourages sane to leave to less hostile environments. Your economy in Seattle will decline until folks feel safe living and working in Seattle. Maybe exporting all those blue collar jobs to foreign countries just to look green was not a good idea. Maybe the illegal’s living in the city at the expense of the taxpayers is not setting well with this state citizen. Yes Seattle needs a complete change of government and many government works looking for new jobs in the private sector. Better yet they can join the Peace Core and help others in need. First you need to clean up voter’s registration by making everybody re register to vote and prove they are citizens. Maybe for about three elections have the UN monitor the election to make sure it is valid. Not much to ask for but at least it’s a start.
I work on the eastside, and most of the people I work with, even the self-proclaimed liberal Democrats, haven’t gone into Seattle for years.
I work on the eastside, and most of the people I work with, even the self-proclaimed liberal Democrats, haven’t gone into Seattle for years.
Can you blame them. Liberals have made a mess of the Seattle school system,roads and the police. Then they flee to republican strongholds once they can’t stand their own stench. Liberals fuck up everything they touch.
hey fake bill clinton:
Thanks for bringin’ nothin’ to the table. Nothing to back up your pathetic drivel which is to blame liberals for everything – but I guess taking responsibility for anything is not the troll/conservative way. Just as an aside – the Seattle area economy and the Washington state economy is doing a lot better than elsewhere.
Gee – must be the fault of all dem liberals.
I like how you blem the transportation problems on the Seattle liberals – when seattle is the only place with a train on the way. Ever try the bus service in the burbs – it ain’t so hot.
goldy – nice post on provincialism. I have been in Seattle for almost 30 years – so I am almost a native I guess. There are some really endearing things about Seattle – and some pathetic things – but I call it home.
Nobody is forced to work or live in Seattle and yet jobs and population continue to grow in the City. Other folks prefer to live and or work in the suburbs and those communities are also growing, so be it. Is there a problem?
correctnotright says:
hey fake bill clinton:
Thanks for bringin’ nothin’ to the table. Nothing to back up your pathetic drivel which is to blame liberals for everything – but I guess taking responsibility for anything is not the troll/conservative way. Just as an aside – the Seattle area economy and the Washington state economy is doing a lot better than elsewhere.
Gee – must be the fault of all dem liberals.
I like how you blem the transportation problems on the Seattle liberals – when seattle is the only place with a train on the way. Ever try the bus service in the burbs – it ain’t so hot.
goldy – nice post on provincialism. I have been in Seattle for almost 30 years – so I am almost a native I guess. There are some really endearing things about Seattle – and some pathetic things – but I call it home.
Have you ever read anything that Bill has written? You might try reading in you spare time. Now you light rail to nowhere you call mass transit? How many years did it take to start construction? How over budget and how many mile of rail is it short? I find it interesting that you survived living in Seattle without coming completely brain dead. Yes there are many endearing things about Seattle but leaving the homeless to die on your street is not one of them today. From you encrypt message you are close to losing your ability to write and spell. Oh!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s too bad the monorail didn’t work it was the best vision Seattle had in the last forty years. Love those potholes!!!!!!!!!
ratcityreprobate says:
Nobody is forced to work or live in Seattle and yet jobs and population continue to grow in the City. Other folks prefer to live and or work in the suburbs and those communities are also growing, so be it. Is there a problem?
Yes you keep exporting you SHIT to the suburbs and it begins to smell.
@Flake:
Gee – being criticized by Klake for not being able to read or write….I must be doing something right.
I thought it interesting that you want to call in the UN to monitor elections here…and I thought you were a right wingnut….turns out you are a UN lover who wants world domination by the UN….How was I to know?
Peace brother.
Why would successful capitalistic cities like Kirkland and Redmond want to associate with Socialist Seattle? That would be like the US calling itself communist China.
The editorial is a good case study of socialism (Seattle) vs Capitalism (Redmond).
You liberals screwed up your beds, now lay in it and stop your whining.
pbj- do you have a clue who the elected officials are in Redmond and Kirkland? Ever talk to one? Hint they are left leaning. If you had any idea what is what in Eastside politics, you’d refer to Bellevue. It actually does lean right.
k says:
pbj- do you have a clue who the elected officials are in Redmond and Kirkland? Ever talk to one? Hint they are left leaning. If you had any idea what is what in Eastside politics, you’d refer to Bellevue. It actually does lean right.
They might be leaning left but the have soft heads. The only requirement to make them think right is kick them in that soft area. They are not completely shit heads yet and when they start to smell we will send them your direction.
To 90% of the country, saying you are from Bellevue is akin to saying that you are a mental patient.
18
?????? Liberals are such goofballs. hehehehehe
Liberals are just folks. Ask Obama. McCain calls us ‘friends’. But he just panders to conservatives because they are so thick-witted and stuck in a rut. No point trying to reason with you. Just push the right buttons and watch you all salivate right on time.
A few notes:
a) Virtually none of you get what Goldy’s talking about. Which is exactly what he’s talking about.
b) I say I’m from Philly because it’s true (in Goldy’s context) even though I grew up across the Delaware in South Jersey. And also because if I say I’m from New Jersey, most people, even in the east, assume I grew up near New York City.
c) to Roger at #3: it’s pronounced BAL-a KIN-wid (BAL rhymes with “Hal”).
d) to Will at #18: yes indeed. Of course, Jane’s dog is so clueless that it never heard of that Bellevue.
21
I guess I could understand why a liberal would think of a mental institution whenever you say Bellevue. Liberalism is a mental disorder.
tiny earl says:
Liberals are just folks. Ask Obama. McCain calls us ‘friends’. But he just panders to conservatives because they are so thick-witted and stuck in a rut. No point trying to reason with you. Just push the right buttons and watch you all salivate right on time.
You said it. And remember:
Change. Hope. Hope. Change.
It’s sweat that folks in Kirkland or Issaquah want to be considered to be ‘on par’ with Seattle, but SO FAR there is a huge cultural dividing line between Seattle and everyone else. Fact is the only reason ANY of those places (Bellevue, Kirkland, Kent) are anything more than small farm settlements is BECAUSE Seattle exists. Sorry but everything is still in Seattle. You want baseball, basketball, football? It’s in Seattle. You want THE ballet, THE symphony, THE opera? It’s in Seattle. The ferries…the train station…the airport (almost)…the zoo…the acquarium…”the” art museum…the Space Needle…Pike Place Market. Bellevue is a lovely place to “live”…but it has NO identity. It’s just a mall and houses. It does have retail, but no ‘soul’ or historic buildings left. Go look at what’s “left” of Main Street, it’s sad.
How do you tell where the “core” of a region is? Where the metro/cultural center is? Where is the gay pride parade held? 200,000 folks come out to watch and participate in downtown Seattle. When the gay pride parade moves to North Bend or Kirland, I’ll concede the cultural/power center has moved or is more spread out. But right now the ‘burbs are SO boring and bland, there isn’t ONE SINGLE gay bar anywhere in the ENTIRE east side. Not one. And I no for a fact there are a LOT of gays living out there, I know a few of them myself. But Issaquah isn’t where you go to “go out”…it’s where you go to Target and sleep.
I hope this region does expand and pull SOME elements out of Seattle and into the burbs.
Goldy: Must have been a Philadelphia thing that was not shared elsewhere.
I spent my first 18 years in NJ suburbs, 20 miles west of NYC. There were distinct identities and localism in the northern NJ suburbs. Nobody identified themselves back then (or does now) as being from New York City, we all identified with our home towns. Perhaps that is because NYC was a cesspool in the 60’s and early 70’s.
By the way, 100% of us at the time agreed that Philadelphia, Cherry Hill, and all those snobby suburbs around Philadelphia sucked.
You can try to sell “regional Seattle” pride all you want, but the people in Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond would have to see something they want to identify with in Seattle; otherwise no sale. Looks like things are heading in the opposite direction, and have been for quite some time.
@22: More of the unthinking crap from a salivating dog – what’s the matter dog, Pavlov got your tongue?
Gee – once again the conservative trolls really add to the conversation – all they can do is blame liberals for everything.
That one-trick pony is getting old – given they have held the white House for 7 years and the national government is on that:
-Can’t balance a budget and have created the largest budget deficits in history (while the rest of us have to live within real budgets – they call this the Reagan effect- saying Reagan proved that you can run huge budget deficits while pretending to be a fiscal conservative)
– Can’t tell the truth about partisanship and cronyism in the Justice dept.
– Can’t run an agency (FEMA)
– Can’t protect us from shoddy foreign goods (FDA)
or shoddy agricultural practices like downer cows(Agriculture)
Gee – Seattle is starting to look pretty good in comparison to the corrupt and inept republicans in Washington – Oh I forgot – it is all Clintons fault! Yeah- wasn’t he the only President to have a budget surplus since….Eisenhower or Truman?
hey 22, ever heard the saying “They’ll cart you off to Bellevue?”
If you have not, you need to google Bellevue in order to get Will’s comment.
Hope all you assholes enjoy the toll that’s coming for the 520 bridge. Maybe it’ll get you all to realize that your not the center of the universe. Or even the center of Washington.
Goldy-you’d be amazed at how many people across the country knows where Issaquah is. I work directly with vendors and service providers across the country and I seldom get asked anymore how to even spell Issaquah. And of course Redmond? Well Microsoft explains that.
I was born in Seattle, raised in Issaquah, and have never said “I’m from Seattle” to anyone.
liberals, liberals, liberals, liberals, blah, blah, blah, blah……GWB, who?
When that 50 year old crazy guy stabbed to death a 24 year old woman, wasn’t that in Bellevue….. wait no that was in Seattle. Thank god that crazy guy’s rights weren’t violated.
@5 Yeah, we should quit showering you ingrates with our money to pay for your schools, roads, and civic improvements. Fucking freeloaders.
A 16-year-old Texas girl is in jail tonight for shooting her entire family because they tried to break up her romance with a boyfriend they didn’t like. Her father is clinging to life with 4 gunshot wounds; her mother and 2 younger siblings are dead.
What is with this country, that every grievance now gets settled by killing someone? I have to believe our young people have been acculturated to violence by entertainment and media. America is awash in violent movies, TV shows, and video games. Anyone who thinks this stuff doesn’t affect behavior is in denial.
It’s Monday morning in the Far East, and Asian stock markets are plunging in advance of tomorrow’s opening bell on Wall Street, with most indexes down 3% to 4%.
@34 Hey righties! Could you remind us again of how great the Bush Economy is? I forgot.
Our wingnut friends traded double-digit inflation for a one-time $300 tax rebate. I hope you geniuses saved that 300 bucks ‘cuz you’re gonna need it at the grocery store.
RR-I agree that violence in TV, movies and video games has de-sensitized kids…BUT there was violence in TV and movies when I was a kid also, difference was my parents would not allow me to watch. When my dad watched the nightly news, we were sent to do homework. A lot of childrens behavior rest on the parenting, or lack thereof, in this day in age, most parents no longer discipline.
37 posts in, and no one’s rebutted that vile P.J. Patches slur? The region may be in more trouble than I thought..
38-I watched JP and yeah he was a drunk….funnt though and hey I turned out ok..Not out shooting people!
@37 Many parents can’t spend time with their kids because they have work all the time just to get by. The middle class is being squeezed to death so people who were already filthy rich can buy more million-dollar toys.
Here are some interesting economic facts:
The average U.S. worker earns less today in inflation-adjusted dollars than he did in 1970.
Although the U.S. economy has grown since 1970, all of the gains have gone to the richest 2% of the population.
The share of U.S. GDP going to workers has fallen from 60% in 2000 to under 50% today.
The dollar has lost 40% of its value since Bush took office in 2001.
The U.S. inflation rate, as of January 2008, is 11.4% annually.
China owns $1.4 trillion of U.S. public debt.
The savings rate in China is 50% of GDP, and in India 25%, but the U.S. has a negative savings rate.
A single taxpayer who works for money gets a personal exemption and standard deduction totaling $8,750; a single taxpayer who inherits money gets an exemption of $2,000,000.
A worker in a typical middle class tax bracket pays a marginal tax rate of 32.65% on his wages (25% income tax + 7.65% FICA tax); an investor with the same income pays 10% (10% capital gains tax + 0% FICA tax).
@40 U.S. tax laws make certain that people who work for money will never have anything, and people who already have a shitload of money will find it easy to accumulate a great deal more.
RR-OUCH! Yes I know our economy is in the hole. My parents, even back then, both worked FT, and my mom even also had a PT job, their time was VERY limited due to working so much. BUT we had rules, and even though we were home from school well before the parents got home….oh boy we both knew NO TV.
I wonder how many dumbass donks in the midwest have been talking about global warming. hehehehe
What Goldy isn’t telling everyone is Bala Cynwyd IS the Jewish Issaquah of the Philadelphia area. It’s just as petty, local, and separate as this area’s burbs, if not more so.
43 The ones whose crops failed last year, you dumb mutt.
Goldy,
Seattle and our region are changing and for the worse. Money killed Seattle and King County. Fuck you computer geeks, bring back the loggers, fishermen and farmers (my kinfolk!)!
You are correct that, “Issaquah is just another Seattle neighborhood.” that’s a bad thing and the result of god-awful planning and land use on the part of King County. Issaquah should be a small, rural logging and dairy farming town.
Whatever you do, don’t go telling a Tacoma boy like me that Tacoma is part part of Seattle unless you’re wearing shin guards and a cup.
What’s wrong with the Times editorial? It can’t be pointed out often enough that there’s a huge danger in the skewing of urban population strata into a large professional/investor class and a growing dependent/parasitic class. It’s one of the major issues facing urban America today, but it’s almost totally absent from public discussion. I would bet this will change if the recession is severe and prolonged.
The middle class is left entirely out of the equation–you get the Paul Allen/Martin Selig developers on one side, and on the other, the ubiquitous and self-important Seattle Displacement Coalition making frequent stops on the Editorial pages. And what you end up with are condo conversion projects where apartments affordable to middle-class workers are removed from the rental pool and replaced by a lot of absurdly expensive condos and a few set-asides for Section 8ers: more rich, more poor, less ordinary worker.
I will admit though that it’s hypocritical of the Times to bash the city of Seattle when it is one of the principal shapers of local consciousness, and is usually guilty of promoting exactly what the editorial criticizes.
re 23: Point taken. And YOU remember this: Why is the ‘free market’ worried about the dumb, guvmint selling better and cheaper health insurance. According to your dogma, that can’t happen.
BlatherButt.
Looks to me like Hannah is a real person, basically who she says she is, her opinions have been presented in good faith, and she has been misunderestimated by some folks on here.
Legal Challenge Filed Against Initiative 960
Senate majority leader Lisa Brown announced Sunday she will file a legal challenge against I-960 Monday morning, stating the initiative 2/3rds supermajority requirement for passing tax increases is “clearly unconstitutional.”
For story, see http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....ative.html
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I agree with her; this initiative doesn’t have a prayer in court.
The future of Clinton’s candidacy isn’t the only thing on the line tomorrow; Dennis Kucinich is fighting to keep his seat in Congress against a primary challenger.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.c.....ich03.html
Why I Take Politics Seriously
Although I occasionaly experiment with wingnut humor, I’ve never felt completely comfortable with joking about killing people, although they apparently have no problem with it.
Even though I may kid our GOPer pals in a good-natured, I’ve always taken politics itself seriously, even since I got involved in my teens. That’s because nothing affects, or changes, or lives more than politics. Here’s an example of what happens when ideologues get out of control:
http://tinyurl.com/yualx9
Okay, so how do we figure out whether such things could happen in America?
First of all, human nature is the same everywhere, and doesn’t change over time, so we’d better start with by assuming that whatever people have done elsewhere, and/or in other times, potentially could happen here.
Second, when people excuse the same things Nazis and Stalinists did, it’s reasonable to assume they’re capable of doing those things, too. I’m talking about stuff like starting wars on false pretenses, torturing prisoners (and lying about it), blowing off atrocities, arresting innocent people, imprisoning people indefinitely without charges, denying prisoners access to lawyers, denying prisoners the right to a trial, and — when pressured to hold trials — setting up kangaroo courts where the “accused” are not allowed to see the evidence against them or even attend the hearing, even though the “trial” may result in their execution.
That’s how Nazis and Stalinists behaved, and it’s also how the Bush administration has behaved, and the good little nazis in the Republican Party have raised no objections to it.
You bet your ass it could happen here. The last 7 years have given us all the proof of that we need.
Liberals must arm!! No, you can’t defeat an aircraft carrier or F-16 with a rifle, shotgun, or handgun. But when those motherfuckers come to arrest you, you sure as hell can make sure they’ll never arrest anyone else.
in a good-natured way
Contempt for the constitution. Contempt for the rule of law. Contempt for innocence. Contempt for basic human rights — even contempt for the right of innocence people to live. That’s today’s Republicans. I have a hard time telling them apart from the Nazis of two generations ago, and I think they’re potentially just as dangerous.
Liberals must arm.
RR:
Of course you oppose I-960, you want MORE, MORE, MORE, MORE, MORE taxes to fund your $100 trillion mass transit to nowhere.
I wonder how many dumbass donks in the midwest have been talking about global warming. hehehehe
Yeah, I know this is an off-topic troll, but I’m just wondering a) how many people are stupid enough to talk about global anything based on one tiny region and b) why a heat-wave in this tiny region should be seen as disproving this global phenomenon? Saturday’s high in Kansas City, Kansas was 71 degrees. Sunday’s high was 75. Both temps are farther above normal than today’s high will be below normal.
When Goldy was growing up in Bala Cynwyd there were 45 kids on our one block. They were all different ages, religious persuasions, and from families with different political ideaologys. All the kids, regardless of age, played together and looked out for each other. They knew they practiced different religions because they identified each other as either “public or parochial”. No doors were locked and everyone’s kitchen was fair game for a hungry or thirsty kid. Crime? What was that. Yes, we all identified as Philadelphians, rooted for the Eagles,the 76ers, the Phillies, etc. and enjoyed the great cultural institutions of “our city”. Two of my 3 kids went to local colleges, Penn and Brynmawr. Perhaps it was this idealistic youth that shaped my son into the idealist that he,is despite his sometimes off color language.
Another:
More anecdotes instead of hard proof. You know if you want to totally wreck the US economy you better have better then that.
I’m not sure what Goldy wants me to do. So if I go to Bellevue, am I supposed to say I went to Seattle? Does he want me to pretend Bellevue is Seattle, and call every small town within a 30 mile radius of Seattle, Seattle, or can I still call them by their own names?
FreedomLover,
Read my post again. You don’t seem to be responding to it.
Goldy is a provincial idiot.
Another TJ:
My point was that anecdotes don’t prove global warming. So I honestly don’t care to cite anecdotes to disprove something that’s not proven in the first place. That’s the a job for ditto-heads.
FreedomLover,
Perhaps you’re a little too tired this morning.
My point, as anyone who takes the time to read before responding can see, is that it is wrong to point to regional temperature fluctuations to support or disprove global climate change, and, if you’re dumb enough to do that, you should at least not be so dumb as to select a region that *undermines* your claim.
I made no claim regarding whether global warming is real, whether humans are a major cause, or its potential impact on the U.S. economy. So perhaps next time you’ll please respond to what’s written, not what you’ve imagined to have been written.
Please, someone help me. Am I still allowed to call Bellevue, Bellevue? Or does Goldy now want us to call it Seattle?
Hey Zip@25: Wait a minute. Don’t denigrate the whole Southern Delaware Valley. Some good came from Philly. Not all are reprobate liberals. Some of us know where Moravian and Broad Streets without looking at a Google Map are conservative.
Notice the suburban Philadelphian liberal is still a liberal? I think it’s really telling when Goldy admits his momma and daddy escaped the city “I was 3 years old when my family moved out to the burbs for the usual reasons — better schools, safer streets, a little plot of land” Notice someone who grew up in the inner city became conservative experiencing the liberal policies of the city government and the sucky inner city schools? Why is that? Because N, Lee and Goldy had it much easier so they stayed liberal. They’ll never understand what happens in the inner city because they have no frame of reference.
If you liberals have paying attention (well most say they don’t read PuddyStudies) I have been saying all along the white flight from inner city is due to liberal policies in the inner city. Yet these morons stay liberal. Is it because they grew up in lily white or almost white suburbs and had better schools, better technology, better social systems? You betcha. They didn’t have to worry if they could make it home without getting a wedgie or be beat up on because you were interesting in book larning instead of being in a gang? They have no idea what it’s like to grow up poor, have textbooks that are out of date and if you make it to a college or university you are behind the eight ball because many of these suburb liberals went to exclusive schools and had one or two years of calculus and are skating pushing up the grading curve while us inner city boys and girls struggle.
Can’t you liberals see the stupidity in what Goldy wrote above about white flight? (No, you’s still liberals) Liberals controlled it all and still do. Yet the same problems still exist when I was a Philadelphian in the 50s and 60s. Why do liberals leave Seattle and head east? Cuz they don’t want to head to Bremerton, etc. cuz the Navy shipyard is there and they are close to Gloria Steinem in thought deed action and word.
Pelletizer@33: “Anyone who thinks this stuff doesn’t affect behavior is in denial.”
It’s your 16%er whack-job liberal friends and their enablers in Hollyweird who glorify for us pimps, hos, blood, murder, zombies, drugs, rapes, etc. in today’s movie genre!
It’s your gaming buds who give us violence in video games.
Nuff SAID Pelletizer!
Oh Perfesser Darryl!
RR @ 40: I don’t know the measure of the savings rates in Japan or Korea, but it is significant. They don’t borrow, as a general rule, even though interest rates are very low. It’s not unusual for a young Japanese man to have savings of the equivilent of several hundred thousands of dollars before he gets married (although they often don’t marry until they are in their 30’s). One of the things which Japanese visitors often comment upon is how old the cars are in the U.S. – most Japanese cars are off the road by the time they are seven years old, replaced by brand-new cars (the trade-ins are shipped & sold overseas).
Although most Koreans (in Korea) continue to think of the U.S. as the “economic promised land”, many of those who travel back and forth frequently report that life is now significanly easier in Korea, especially for those with a college education. In those families, only one wage earner is necessary to have a pretty nice lifestyle, and there is lots of discretionary income available for trips overseas, fashionable clothing, new cars, etc.
And despite some trend towards “outsourcing”, employment in Japan and Korea continues to be secure. Most employees expect to retire from the same company in which they started employment while in their ’20’s.
So, despite some obvious disadvantages of living in those countries (prejudice, sexism, cramped living space, etc.), the economic circumstances of the middle class is significantly more secure in both of those countries – regardless of what we, in the U.S., might like to remember from their situation some half a century ago.
Perhaps the fact finder might find some facts to link to, thereby adding some structure to his inspiring, anecdotal tale of self triumph.
Actually, the city has grown faster than the surrounding area from 2000-2006. Damb inner city liberal bastards.
http://www.seattlechamber.com/.....?v_id=4057
Slingingshit: So what. I was speaking to the poor people who normally can’t escape the bad schools while the upwardly mobile ones escape. Did you miss the memo?
As some of us here wrote, we don’t care a wit about Seattle. Sometimes I wonder if Greg I Don’t Give a Nickels does too?
Did anyone hear about those houses in Seattle that were torched last night by the ELF?
Yeah. They’re acting out to get attention. Like Puddy. They
are reprehensible and ought to be in prison. They also do their alleged cause far more harm than any possible good. Again like Puddy. He’s around here continuously, so you ought not to be startled by the phenomenon.
72 – That wasn’t in Seattle, it was in the Maltby area just north of Woodinville. And those ELF idiots think blowing up multi million dollar homes is going to accomplish anything?
@43 – you are a Global Moron, hazardous to everyones health.
@65: Hate to blow your puny hypothesis to shreds Puddy – but most cities are more liberal than the burbs.
Plus – I grew up in the inner city and I sure as hell don’t fall for the kool-aid that the republicans sell.
War in Iraq for no reason – no thanks!
Ignoring bin Laden – No thanks!
Corporate tax breaks and corrupt lobbyists (Abramoff and the K street project) – no thanks.
States rights except when we don’t like it (California CAFE standrrds or Oregon right to die) – no thanks.
The right to ignore science in favor of politics (the Bush administration on global warming, plan B, the environment) – no thanks.
Using political favors and cronyism in the justice dept. – no thanks.
Trying to justify torture and illegal spying on americans -no thanks.
Crony appointments Brownie and gonzalez. and the list goes on…the most corrupt and intellectually bankrupt administration ever. No thanks!
ELF – bunch of morons
they burnt the center for Urban Horticulture because they thought they were doing genetics research – WRONG!
I lump them with the other crazies:
On the far left – Naderites
On the far right – David Duke, global warming deniers, evolution deniers, the KKK, John Birch society etc.
Come on, PPtheffp. You hit the nail on the head, even though it was on your backswing while you were aiming at something else. It’s income and more importantly, the individual family’s/parent’s focus on the importance of education that effects the system, not the area’s majority political persuasion.
Liberal philosophy equals crappy inner-city schools is tired sloganeering.
@76
You forgot “Apocalyptic Christian nutjobs”, biblical literalists, and Bob Jones University. Not mention Pat Robertson.
I wonder if the Owner or Developer of the Homes is responsible for the fires, and trying to make it look like ELF? We do have a housing problem.
@78: My bad – it is hard to keep track of all the loonies. Luckily, we have our own trolls here to help us remember.
Back onto the original subject:
I agree that Seattle is a “region”, and the Eastside is a part of it. Sure, there is a lot more business on the Eastside than when, in the 1970’s, Bellevue, Redmond, and Kirkland were “bedroom suburbs” of Seattle, and Issaquah was a wide spot in the road. But as others have pointed out, we all share cultural emenities and a regional identification. Even in Belleuve, Redmond, & Kirkland, where do they go when visitors want to see the sights? It isn’t Bellevue Square. It is the Seattle waterfront, Seattle Center, Space Needle, Aquarium, etc.
As for myself, we moved from the South to this area almost 30 years ago. We have lived in Auburn, Crown Hill (North Ballard Area), Lynnwood, Edmonds, and now Everett. I have worked in Downtown Seattle for the better part of 10 years, then Lake City, then Kenmore/Bothell, and now in Bellevue (for more than 10 years). We still consider ourselves as living in the “Greater Seattle Area”.
I would think that there is a sort of national code of answering for the question, “Where are you from?” If someone out here asks it of someone from Minnesota, the answer would be “The Twin Cities.” That would satisfy people who don’t need to know more. If you knew Minnesota, you might say, “Which Part?” And then get the answer “Edina.” People who live there would say to the first question, “Burnsville,” since the “Cities” would not give the information requested.
It is no different here. If you are in Arkansas and are asked, you don’t say “Issaquah.” That answer forces the next obvious question, “Where’s that?” To which you say, “Just east of Seattle.” Out here “Issy” can chat with “Kenmore.” Over in PA, “Seattle” suffices most queries.
Isn’t this fairly standard?
@73,
Not true. Goldy says that we now have to start calling every town in King County “Seattle.” Goldy says it’s selfish of people who live in places like Maltby to say they live in Maltby. Goldy says they should say they live in Seattle. So, according to Goldy, the fire was in Seattle. Reread his post if you don’t believe me.
Troll @ 83: An example of a right-wing troll at work. Exaggerates a comment beyond all recognition to create a rhetorical “straw man”, then knocks it down.
Hey Troll, go to Philadelphia, Kansas City, Austin, London, Tokyo, Singapore, and let them know you live in Maltby. After getting a strange look or two, perhaps a few questions, you will quickly learn to say “Seattle area”.
New Yorkers are proud of the specific area in which they live, but when they travel abroad they also say they are from “New York” – just as proudly. You don’t have to choose between one or the other.
Headless@72 farted: “Yeah. They’re acting out to get attention. Like Puddy.”
But unlike Puddy, these worthless ingrates wasted people’s sweat equity.
How many union carpenters saw their hard work get burned?
How many union window hangers watched their windows melt?
How many union plumbers watched their pipes melt or bend?
How many union masons saw their kitchen counters break?
How many union roofers watched their roofs burn?
Just think of all those union journeymen?
How about those union apprentices?
But we’re the ELF. Fuck those union guys. We know better. We’re 16%ers.
Yes your 16%er friends headless lucy. You and them agree on just about everything on the left wing kook political spectrum.
Puddy – do you have 16% of a Brain?
@87
A rhetorical question, I presume.
Tommy if I did it would be 100% more than you.
You are now 0 for 357.
Keep it up.
Puddinghead @65,
A) My parents made the decision to move to the burbs, not me. I live in city, and sent my daughter to one the most diverse elementary schools you’ll ever find.
B) It wasn’t exactly “white flight” in that we moved from the then white working class Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia. My father was a doctor, and until I was three we lived above his office. My father kept his office and continued to serve that community until he gave up family medicine to pursue psychiatry.
C) You remain a minority amongst minorities, a conservative African American, so all your talk about my experience versus those growing up in the inner city is kinda pointless considering 92% of African Americans vote Democratic… like me.
D) My liberalism has a helluva lot less to do with the neighborhood I grew up in, and helluva lot more to do with the values my family instilled in me.
I’m glad Goldy mentioned the Varner piece and Vesely/Ramsey editorial together. Remember the days when that old fart kept preaching the virtues of regionalism? Turns out, his self-centric/Mercer Island centric feigning didn’t have much of a shelf life.
Start talking about light rail – connecting urban centers within the region – and morons like Vesely switch over to parochial backwoods yahoos.
The Varner column and unsigned Vesely/Ramsey editorial seemed to be at odds. Varner was trying to emphasize the positive aspects change has brought to the region. Old farts Vesely and Ramsey keep focusing on the negative aspects of regional modernity.
It blows my mind Bruce Ramsey actually lives on Phinney Ridge. Seriously, there are a lot more enlightened regional thinkers in Covington when Vesely and Ramsey drag the I-90 corridor curve down.
Goldy, you’re on to something. Go back a few years, and look for the days when (now) self-centered Ron Sims was positioning himself to be the region’s leader. And watch how far he’s fallen, along with Sims-fawning Jim Vesely. What this region really lacks is political leadership to push for regional cooperation. All the infighting, chip-on-the-shoulder whining, populist bullshit disinformation, etc…can be blamed on the leadership vacuum.
Denver, Salt Lake, Portland, Vancouver BC…even goddamn Phoenix…has figured out infighting only benefits competing regions. (Civic pride in Pugetopolis usually involves pitting “outsiders” against one’s own constituency.)
Infighting might give Vesely and his Reagan era throwbacks at Blethen, Inc a short-term shot in the arm through jackass columns and manufactured cat fights. But, over the long run, the cranky old men’s club is doing serious damage to the economic, social and cultural potential our region possesses. Which means these clowns are shooting themselves in the foot. One gets the feeling a permanent sense of cynicism has crept its way in to the halls of the old white men’s club at the Seattle Times.
Kinda sad when you think about Michelle Malkin as their breath of fresh air. (Although, like our dear friend Stefan Sharkansky, Malkin moved to Wallingford, and made a point of detesting her neighbors.)
“It’s your 16%er whack-job liberal friends and their enablers in Hollyweird who glorify for us pimps, hos, blood, murder, zombies, drugs, rapes, etc. in today’s movie genre!”
Puddy, the Larry Craig genes are showing again. Your voracious appetite for porn, deviancy, racism, anti-social activities and violence have kept the bottom-feeding segment of the Hollywood humming for years. Your disgusting mindset may only be shared by 3% (angry, white, over-the-hill male) of the population. But the isolated cranks spend some serious dough on sick stuff! (Limbaugh letter defending Viagra-laced sex tourism included)
Rather than always blame society for the failures of a broken man, why not start facing down your own demons, Puddybud? Too lazy? Or, are you simply set on dying alone and paying for your own funeral?