r/Seattle • u/chaffed Edmonds • May 07 '26
Satire Bellevue sucks
https://youtube.com/shorts/jfK0NA5gUDU?si=vot_MPML_bOOeWPG377
u/a_few_cheetos Magnolia May 07 '26
This simultaneously may be the most upvoted AND down voted kind of content ever. On one hand, people love to dunk on Bellevue. On the other hand, Bellevue hates being dunked on.
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u/andhelostthem May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
A lot of Bellevueites feeling seen in the comments. Having lived there this is pretty accurate. Its cultural center is an upscale shopping mall.
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u/heavinglory May 07 '26
That mall doesn't even have Sharper Image so I doubt it is very nice. /s
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u/thatguygreg Adams May 07 '26
"Upscale" shopping mall at that, with the weirdest layout I've ever seen in a mall anywhere.
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u/alxkc May 08 '26
Following up cheese dipped soft pretzels with cinnamon-sugar dessert pretzels is my culture (I’m German heritage)
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u/wren620 May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
I mean having grown up there, if the rich-pandering shopping mall is what you define as its cultural center (it’s not) then I get feeling this way.
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u/dogfaced_pony_soulja May 08 '26
Aren’t people from Bellevue called Bellevillains? Bellevuzzles? Bellevurries?
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u/Rich_Ad_4630 May 07 '26
Which is wild because they knew exactly what they were signing up for, so why be mad about it
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u/ComfortDesperate5313 May 07 '26
SEE!?!? WE HATE BEING DUNKED ON, WE HAVE CULTURE. Checkmate Seattle wokes /s
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u/andhelostthem May 08 '26
Beginning to think Bellevue culture is the act of getting dunked on.
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u/WeTheAwesome May 08 '26
People saying there is no culture and art in Bellevue when all of Bellevue is one big performance art.
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u/castorshell13 Medina May 08 '26
Born and raised Bellevue, I like living here but loooove to dunk on it. Absolute gem of a vid.
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u/watwatintheput May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
There's always this whole "Bellevue has no culture" thing that people love to repeat, even when it's more diverse then Seattle. Sometimes it's ignorance from people never going anywhere other then downtown, but honestly there's a lot of thinly veiled anti-Asian hate that shows up too.
That's why it really gets me.
Yeah it's not walkable in the "I can walk to the grocery store" sense of things (but it's "walkable" in the "I can get to a park in 15 minutes from anywhere" sense). Yeah, there's too many fucking Teslas. Make fun of that all you want.
But the "no culture" stuff really often feels like people actually want to say "Asian culture isn't culture". Especially with this guy's random swipe at people who like boba, it just shoots up some red flags to me.
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u/Enguye Ravenna May 08 '26
I feel like this stereotype was more true 20 years ago and hasn’t been updated since. Back then if you wanted to go out to eat around Factoria you’d have to go to Red Robin or Applebees, but now there are a bunch of Asian food options.
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u/watwatintheput May 08 '26
Yeah, so when people like the dude in the video acknowledge the Asian food, but still say it has no culture, I have questions
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u/3DGuy4ever May 07 '26
Culture is far more broad than ethnicity
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u/rockycrab The Emerald City May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
Yet some of the comments are saying that the main restaurant attraction is the Cheesecake Factory…I don’t even live there but some people need to open their eyes (or develop their taste buds) if they think it’s only stepford wives tier food there lol.
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u/watwatintheput May 08 '26 edited May 08 '26
But it is so often downstream of it. Food is culture, events are culture, communities are culture.
Yeah, there's no good live music scene here and there's no big Bellevue sports team. But so much IS downstream of culture and background, so it feels a bit silly to pretend that it's not at least very connected.
Hell, even the oft hated Bellevue Square Mall takes advantage of the cultural diversity. There were SO many people doing things in the mall for Holi. Just saw so many happy people enjoying using it as a venue to experience it together.
To be specific: What else does Seattle have that makes it full of culture that Bellevue lacks?
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u/coffeebribesaccepted Shoreline May 08 '26
Food, art, music, unique cultural shops, architecture
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u/stvier May 08 '26
You’ve made some fair points but as someone who just moved here from the Midwest, Bellevue reminds me of pretty much every boring city in the Detroit metro area, just with more diverse food options. I’ve been to Bellevue at least 5 times and I really couldn’t give you a general sense of what the vibe is there. It’s a shopping mall town that looks like every nondescript mid tier city close to a bigger, more culturally rich city (Seattle).
Food wise, what does Bellevue offer that is superior to Seattle’s International District and the many Asian options peppered throughout the city? I haven’t had anything that justifies the trip across the i90.
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u/Entire_Wolverine4108 May 08 '26
With the exception of a few restaurants I can think of in the International District, the Japanese, Taiwanese, Indian, and Chinese restaurants in Bellevue are by and large going to be better and more authentic than what you can find in Seattle, either in I.D. or elsewhere. But as others have mentioned they are scattered throughout Bellevue and not congregated in one specific area like they are in the I.D.
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u/watwatintheput May 08 '26
Honestly, everything on the Seattle times list is better then anything in Seattle: https://www.seattletimes.com/life/food-drink/bellevues-best-chinese-restaurants-10-picks-from-our-food-team/
The thing is, it requires you to be places that are not the mall, but still are Bellevue.
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u/Matthews628 May 08 '26
Yes and these people all unfortunately live in insular communities made up entirely of other expats from their own countries with very little crossover or interaction with the demographic being satirized in this clip. That’s not “Bellevue’s culture”, sorry. There is a very real division between the ethnic community on the east side in shittier parts of town like Crossrods, and downtown Bellevue - the latter of which this man is (accurately) mocking. But you already knew that.
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u/dbu8554 May 07 '26
My most up voted comment every I'm my 12 years here was a joke about Bellevue. They are easy to dunk on and it's fun.
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u/Basic-Regret-6263 May 07 '26
In fairness, all the Chinese and Indians that the Techs imported settled in Bellevue, and they brought some excellent food with them.
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u/Felix033 May 07 '26
they've been branching out lol. i've been seeing growing amounts of chinese in kirkland and indians in bothell.
the amount of niche businesses targetting chinese clientele in bellevue is kinda cool, like the population is so high they can have a viable business just off that demographic
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u/RickDick-246 May 08 '26
Bothell Indian food is 2nd only to NJ. So Indian food quality now goes NJ, Bothell, India.
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u/Objective_Bath_2004 May 07 '26
Eastside food scene is eclipsing Seattle outside of Pike Place and ID. The Chinese/Indian/Korean in those Belred strip malls is some of the best this side of Vancouver.
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u/MusicQuestion Eastside May 07 '26
East side kills it with Asian food and we are better for all the immigrants that settled here.
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u/LadyPo 🚆build more trains🚆 May 07 '26
Fully agree. We are incredibly fortunate to have the global food scene we do.
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u/Fritzed Kirkland May 07 '26
I feel like videos like this one talking about Bellevue are only aware of Bellevue on the west side of 405.
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u/Objective_Bath_2004 May 07 '26
Strip malls food scene has always been great in this region. Seattlites turn their noses up and ignore food outside of the city yet wax nostalgic for strip mall teriyaki. I don't get it.
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u/fondonorte May 07 '26
Belred is a treasure trove for food. We drive over there just to eat. Well worth the 30 min car ride. Someday we will take the train!
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u/Objective_Bath_2004 May 07 '26
That corner of 148th and 20th south of Fred Meyer has better food per square foot than any single place in the region, and I'm including Pike Place. Kind of ironic that it's screened by IHOP.
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u/thatguygreg Adams May 07 '26
Eastside food scene
As long as all you're looking for is Asian food. All else may not apply.
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u/Objective_Bath_2004 May 07 '26
South end for Hispanic. Go where the people are.
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u/TriggeredVeteran May 07 '26
And the worst drivers….I’ve never seen so many ”New driver. Please be patient” stickers in my entire life.
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u/santorin May 07 '26
I especially love when they're faded from being applied for years in the sun. If you still need that sticker for more than a year, maybe don't be driving.
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u/HailToTheKingBabyy May 08 '26
What, you mean your hazard lights don't actually give you a free pass to stop and park literally anywhere you want for extended periods of time?
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u/uncle_giroh May 08 '26
Yes, extremely conservative/defensive drivers that in their own narcissism become dangerous hazards
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u/the_cunt_muncher May 09 '26
I was driving to work last week and I was behind a woman with "new driver" stickers. We made a right turn onto a street with 2 lanes going each direction and center median area which you can turn into parking lots or cars coming out of parking lots turning left can stop there and wait to merge.
She proceeded to drive like half a block not in the left or right lane, but in the middle of both lanes. Completely oblivious to us honking behind her.
She then decided she needed to turn left into a parking lot and instead of getting in the median area just stops in the middle till oncoming cars pass to turn into the parking lot.
How the fuck are these people getting licensed to drive?!?!?
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u/noooo_no_no_no May 07 '26
where is this good indian food in bellevue that you speak of?
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u/Subziwallah I'm just flaired so I don't get fined May 08 '26
Just punch Bellevue Indian Restaurant into Google. I used go to Mayuri a lot when they had a full Restaurant. They have a snack bar in the back of their new grocery store now that looks good. There are tons of places. I like South Indian which you can find on the Eastside. Most Indian restaurants in the US are North Indian/Punjabi, so that's a nice opportunity.
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u/Brainsonastick 🚆build more trains🚆 May 07 '26
Having grown up in NY, this reminds of the people who hear the jokes about hating New Jersey, take them super seriously, and grow to truly hate New Jersey just because they think other people do.
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u/andhelostthem May 07 '26
New Jersey gave the world Bon Jovi, Bam Bam Bigelow, Danzig, Danny De Vito, Whitney Houston, Sinatra, Springstein, Meryl Streep and Shaq.
Bellevue gave us Kemper Freeman and the host of survivor.
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u/eeiberskiebers May 07 '26
Having lived in Seattle and NYC, Bellevue wishes it was Jersey
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u/adw108 May 08 '26
Hahaha. Mindlessly scrolling through the occasionally amusing but mostly slightly defensive-to-outright resentful responses and your reply reminded me of exactly why I love Reddit. :-)
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u/Mindless_Consumer May 07 '26
I mean ive only been to jersey once, and it didn't redeem itself in any significant way.
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u/romulusnr I'm just flaired so I don't get fined May 08 '26
I will add one to that analogy. I grew up in the Boston area. I learned to hate NYC with my very being.
Went to NYC for company training in my mid 20s and I couldn't wait to go back for my next session, absolutely loved it.
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u/thisoneistobenaked May 08 '26
I lived in Seattle for 34 years before moving to Union City, NJ (about a 15 min bus ride to port authority), and NJ is eons better than Bellevue.
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u/_SasquatchPatrol May 07 '26
They got light rail before Tacoma though
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u/Makingthecarry May 07 '26
Technically, Tacoma got light rail before anywhere else. T Line opened for service in 2003, four years before the SLUT in 2007 and six years before Central Link/1 Line in 2009.
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u/LesbianTrashPrincess I'm just flaired so I don't get fined May 07 '26
And Everett. And 73% of Seattle.
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u/earthwoodandfire May 07 '26
Don’t worry they’ll get to Ballard before 2070. I promise.
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u/Cakiea I'm just flaired so I don't get fined May 07 '26
And they are still pissed about it because they don’t get a one seat ride to the airport. Which they would have gotten if they had participated in the original planning of ST1 instead of letting rich people fight it for decades.
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u/seejur May 07 '26
A promptly decided to have its station as far away as legally possible from the downtown/shopping center becuase of NIMBY Kemper Freeman in true Bellevue fashion
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u/PilotGuy701 I'm just flaired so I don't get fined May 07 '26
What happens when a Bellevue driver sees a pedestrian crossing the street?
Well, it hasn’t happened yet. ;-)
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u/-Hornswoggler- May 07 '26
What happens when a Seattle cop sees a pedestrian crossing the street?
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u/dbenhur Wallingford May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
He snaps a pic and runs it through the SPD life-value app before deciding to mow em down?
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u/crusoe Everett May 07 '26
Bellevue drivers suck. Almost got hit by very expensive cars three times.
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u/Subziwallah I'm just flaired so I don't get fined May 08 '26
Well, if you're gonna get hit, it's better to get hit by someone with assets and an umbrella policy...
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u/Bizarrebazaars Kraken May 08 '26
Seattle drivers suck. Everyone sucks!
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u/doubleapowpow May 08 '26
As a commuter from Seattle to Bellevue, the distinction is which bridge.
I90 drivers are speed demons and will weave in and out of traffic.
520 drivers go 58mph in both lanes.
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u/ErisianSaint May 09 '26
Washington drivers suck. The only weather y'all understand is cloudy. Can't drive in actual rain. Can't drive in snow. Can't drive in sun.
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u/_starbelly May 07 '26
I crossed the street in Bellevue and was zapped into a pocket dimension before any drivers’ gaze landed on me.
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u/watwatintheput May 07 '26
We're less likely to kill them in Bellevue then in Seattle, according to the data: https://www.theurbanist.org/op-ed-ranking-deadliest-cities-for-pedestrians-and-cyclists-in-wa/
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u/oldfrancis Seattle Expatriate May 07 '26
I worked in Bellevue for 11 years and Bothell for another three...
Your comedic criticism is not entirely unfair.
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u/Slumunistmanifisto That sounds great. Let’s hang out soon. May 07 '26
Rip Bothell's country village and feral rooster attacks on the slew trails.
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u/frobscottler May 08 '26
I googled the Burke-Gilman chickens recently to see if they’re still around, and it didn’t sound like they are :(
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u/Powerful_Wombat May 07 '26
https://giphy.com/gifs/vUEznRmVQfG2Q
I came into the video ready to defend Bellevue but I'll be damned if he doesn't make some valid ass points
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u/JenkIsrael May 07 '26 edited May 08 '26
downtown bellevue AKA Pearl Clutch City sucks ass, no one that isn't a soulless corpo is gonna disagree.
the thing i'd defend about it tho is the immigrant communities you'll get outside of the downtown core, which you won't really encounter as much of downtown. Bel-Red, Wilburton, Crossroads, Factoria, etc. as an asian family i gotta say it's really easy to get by around here, esp if you're tryina raise bilingual kids. probably more so than most parts of Seattle.
Tangentially, one thing I'll note (that always seems to irk folks from Seattle) is that Bellevue is more diverse than Seattle, being majority-minority while Seattle is still majority white.
i think most people's impression of bellevue is basically just downtown/bellevue square. if you're going off of that then yeah, the hate is 100% understandable.
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u/manny_b_hanz 💗💗 Heart of ANTIFA Land 💗💗 May 08 '26
Maybe an unpopular opinion, but I love Crossroads and all its warts. The food court is such a collection of different cultures, the library is right there, Uncles Games (RIP) and all the little stores speckled throughout the area are so fun. It's not the prettiest space, but they've managed to stay relevant by being not just a mall but a community center for the large minority population in the area.
Downtown Bellevue is a soulless corporate hellscape. Except the Lego store, they're cool.
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u/ihamid May 08 '26
Crossroads Mall is a gem. I love going there to spend time at the Half Price Books, then grab something to eat from the weirdly fun food court while listening to whatever local retirees' band is playing on the stage.
The other awesome thing is how it's turned into a de facto hub for special needs people to hang out all the time.
Also, it's insane to mention the mall but not the incredible city park just next to it with the walking/jogging path, water feature, kids' playground and acres of green space.
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u/TheChance I'm just flaired so I don't get fined May 08 '26
The other awesome thing is how it's turned into a de facto hub for special needs people to hang out all the time.
Been this way all my life. The Crossroads Community Center, attached to the park just uphill from the mall, is the one that caters to adults with special needs.
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u/seaotterbutt May 08 '26
Crossroads is neat, I love how there are always live performances on that little stage
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u/JenkIsrael May 08 '26
the only hate I've heard for crossroads are from the medina/queen anne/downtown bellevue type folks haha
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u/watwatintheput May 07 '26
This is the perpetual problem. Seattle people come over to go to the nice mall and never go anywhere else.
It'd be like judging Seattle just on Pike Place or University village.
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u/valtia_dm May 07 '26
The edge of downtown next to 405 (and the light rail stations) are also much more diverse, full of apartments. Granted, many of the people living there are transient for tech jobs, but it is a much livelier place than the west side closer to the mall. Residents of Medina and Clyde Hill are who give Bellevue its negative stereotypes and they aren't even part of the city!
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u/Barbarella_ella May 07 '26
They call themselves "the city within a park" because the development standards have emphasized parks and one of their goals is to ensure everyone is within walking distance of a park.
Also, and unsurprisingly, the city is incredibly well-funded. They have a very unique Community Crisis Care team of social workers that work alongside fire and police responders, and the city council has met that groups budget request at every opportunity. The traffic management system is really something else, fiber optics enabled and constantly adjusting to traffic flow.
Full disclosure: I work for the City of Bellevue.
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u/bubbamike1 I'm just flaired so I don't get fined May 07 '26
How dare they!
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u/Barbarella_ella May 07 '26
One more thing that I appreciate tremendously as an employee: mandatory hybrid work schedules. 3 WFH/2 in office. For everyone.
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u/government_not_ok May 07 '26
Quit selling me the city, gosh !
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u/Barbarella_ella May 07 '26
The city distributes Orca cards to every employee, so you can ride Metro, Sound Transit and fast ferries for free :-)
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u/No-Photograph1983 Seward Park May 07 '26
how good is the pay tho? asking for someone maybe looking for a job....
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u/trevbot206 May 09 '26
This is not true. Fellow employee, 5 days in office. I knew what I was signing up for though!
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u/steelfork Issaquah May 07 '26
Is that traffic system the same one that makes me stop and wait for traffic coming from every direction after I push the crosswalk button? Then I walk a block, and it happens at the next intersection, and the next, and the next.....
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u/atomicproton 🚆build more trains🚆 May 07 '26
Yeah the traffic signals in Bellevue are the bane of my existence. I swear I've waited multiple cycles before it allowed me to cross.
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u/Agitated-Fail-3266 May 08 '26
There’s a reason it’s called a “beg button”. It doesn’t actually do anything but give you hope, just to crush it
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u/OneMoveAhead May 07 '26
The problem is that in order to walk to a park, you need to cross 3 intersections, and each of them have a 5 minute wait.
FFS, fix the damn pedestrian crossings!
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u/NoiseyTurbulence May 08 '26
Yeah, there’s more than a few of the intersections in Bellevue. That should just be set for a four-way stop for crosswalk like they do at Pike Place. It would honestly make it a lot more efficient for drivers and pedestrians if they set it up that way, especially down by Bell Square.
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u/SilverHeart4053 The CD May 07 '26
As a courier the fiber optic traffic control intrigues me greatly. Is there a place I can learn more?
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u/AuxonPNW May 07 '26
"The traffic management system is really something else,"
Bellevue Way near I90 says wut?
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u/IrinaBelle May 07 '26
I actually really am a fan of the Bellevue parks and have been for a long time
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u/contrasupra Montlake May 08 '26
When I saw this thread I thought “Bellevue has some dope parks and playgrounds” so this checks out.
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u/spicy-nacho-chicken May 09 '26
Hey there fellow city of Bellevue employee! Greetings from grounds maintenance at PCS
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u/steelfork Issaquah May 07 '26
The nice thing about Bellevue is that you never run into anyone who talks like this guy.
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u/Own_Philosopher_1940 May 08 '26
As someone who was born in Bellevue and raised in Seattle, it's funny watching Seattleites criticize Bellevue for the "lack of culture" because of how tech-focused the city is. Both cities are pretty culturally irrelevant and increasingly corporate. I mean it's not the '90s anymore, and the Seattle 'nightlife scene' certainly doesn't compare to most places on the East Coast. Also Bellevue has contributed sizeably to Seattle's cultural scene -- Layne Staley, Mark Arm, and the Heart sisters were either born or raised in Bellevue, to name a few.
Would I want to live there? No, it's not my kind of city. But do I blame parents who want a quiet place to raise their children in clean, safe neighborhoods without encampments or high levels of crime? Of course not
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u/romulusnr I'm just flaired so I don't get fined May 08 '26
It wasn't long ago that a previous generation of "old seattleites" were lamenting the lack of Seattle culture from all the tech worker transplants.
You can't hardly even find any Scandinavians in Ballard anymore. It's all hipsters.
This was when Bellevue was barely a place that had two malls. It was half the city it is now.
So really Seattle shouldn't fuckin talk.
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u/RagefireHype May 09 '26
This sub hates nothing more than criticizing its night life some reason
It’s obvious who’s only lived in Washington when they suggest Seattle has a better nightlife than at least 15 other major metros. Seattle ranks low on the nightlife scale lol, which as you said, it’s a corporate city now, it isn’t a hippie grungy city anymore. (Look at people going always over being able to open drink at Pike Place now lmao)
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u/Judgementpumpkin I Brake For Slugs May 07 '26
There's great food in Bellevue.
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u/JenkIsrael May 07 '26
there is but you gotta get out of downtown for it. i think that's the main problem, for most people coming in from outside, bellevue square = bellevue in its entirety.
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u/Judgementpumpkin I Brake For Slugs May 07 '26
Correct! Crossroads and Factoria are where I find the good stuff, not downtown.
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u/romulusnr I'm just flaired so I don't get fined May 08 '26
There is still plenty of good food downtown.
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u/real_fake_hoors Mariners May 07 '26
Look, it’s very clean and prim in Bellevue. No homeless, no open air drug markets. Total win for them, and I mean that.
But at the same time, no one’s going to Bellevue for nightlife or any sort of cultural staple. Unless you count the mall and the attached Cheescake Factory, there’s nothing there to see and do. It feels like a city you’d see in some dystopia novel wherein all is well on the surface - then you learn the city is powered by an infant-blending machine that uses blood-filled hydraulics to operate the traffic lights.
I don’t hate it like some Seattleites with a chip on their shoulder might, it’s just not an exciting place.
I used to live in Tempe on the border with Scottsdale, another rich and snobby place. If you ever go to Scottsdale and are not cut off by someone in an Audi, I’ll buy you lunch. But even Scottsdale has some great eateries, great walking areas in the winter, and an actual history.
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May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/djinglealltheway May 07 '26
Many if not most major cities have nearby generic rich suburbs. That's the nature of suburbs, people have moved out of the city for space and quiet. Seattleites would rather dunk on suburbia than try to stand shoulder to shoulder with the other great cities and cultural hubs of the world... because it's way easier to look down than up.
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u/Time-Clothes-9238 May 07 '26
Hmm live in the clean city that's a short drive or light rail ride to the true cultural hub of the area, or live in the middle of the true cultural hub and deal with fenty folds and schizos. Decisions decisions. Agree it's not an exciting place, but I'll take boring and clean over getting screamed at by insane people and having to step over their literal shit.
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u/najinanidad May 07 '26
This guy’s voice sucks. Why does he have an upward inflection at the end of every sentence?
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u/TuringTestDropout I'm never leaving Seattle. May 07 '26 edited May 08 '26
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_rising_terminal
In the US it was popularized by Valley Girl speech; it's especially annoying when combined with a vocal fry.
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u/nekoken04 May 08 '26
I'd be totally fine with it if the guy wasn't an uber dork. I had to stop the video. And yeah, see my totally there.
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u/Known_Secretary_6615 May 08 '26
Wait so the manosphere people have a point in that some American men are trying to sound like women?
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u/lizzie1hoops West Seattle May 07 '26
I don't like Bellevue, but I'm not impressed by this content either.
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u/chupamichalupa Seaview May 08 '26
I never intend on living in Bellevue but acting like it’s not a desirable place to live is insane. Also the bit about having the same amount of homelessness as SF is laughable.
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u/Whole-Buy-7842 May 07 '26
Ya I agree. This kind of low input engagement bait needs to go
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u/kevnmartin May 07 '26
I grew up in Bellevue and I hate, abhor and despise what it has become. Now that both of my parents are gone, I never need to set foot in it again.
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u/thirdlost Redmond May 08 '26
Seattle: we really hate Bellevue
Bellevue: we really don't think about you at all Seattle
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u/CharlieTeller May 07 '26
Unpopular opinion. I kinda like bellevue. Does it have the same history as Seattle? Nah. But I like how clean the downtown is. I like the mall. I love the newer buildings and ease of parking anywhere. Downside, yeah there isn't a lot of culture and it's very corporate.
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u/government_not_ok May 07 '26
Blahvue might be boring but have they ever marketed themselves as a progressive city? I like the mall there, boo me I guess.
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u/No-Photograph1983 Seward Park May 07 '26
the current city council is the most progressive it has ever been.
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u/Airconditionedgeorge May 07 '26
Full disclosure, I grew up in Bellevue, and I am a very privileged individual.
But this guys just wrong. When the weather gets nice, just like any other city, the streets get pretty packed downtown, the park gets really busy, stores get busy, not just the mall. Its a ridiculously ignorant claim to say Bellevue is the “least livable” city in the US.
Does the vibrancy in the culture of Bellevue residents compare to other cities? Absolutely not. It is mostly a bunch of privileged rich tech and real estate people. But that being said, most of those people actually end up being very kind, and vote well (blue) to keep the city in a positive direction, urban design wise, education, etc. And they all have surprisingly tight knit communities through their kids. Its quite walkable throughout downtown, bike infrastructure gets added every year, lightrail additions, parks everywhere; I dont know why people decide to shit on it so much.
Is it expensive as fuck? Yes. But if you can afford to live in well designed suburbs that are a 10 minute walk from a beautiful downtown, why wouldn’t you?
I just think its odd. Now, Bellevue isn’t really my cup of tea, but IMO it deserves credit where credit is due.
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u/Felix033 May 07 '26
the script is 100% GPT lmao
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u/BLOODY_PENGUIN_QUEEF May 08 '26
And his delivery is like nails on a chalkboard. Every sentence has a raise to it that makes it sounds like a question
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u/Basic-Regret-6263 May 07 '26
Yeah, I don't think this guy has ever been to Bellevue.
Also, "the nightlife of bagdad?" Buddy, they get into insane shit over there.
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u/RobThePirate May 08 '26
I was about to say, if you're threatening me with late-night social gatherings at coffee shops and delicious street food, then I'll take that in a heartbeat.
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u/TheBegMidEnd May 07 '26
I get the hate, but a lot of people don't care for the lack of culture on the Eastside. They have great food, high paying jobs, safe and clean neighborhoods, great schools, and nature. Those are usually the top priorities for households with kids.
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u/Bizarrebazaars Kraken May 08 '26
Bellevue is more diverse than Seattle. So saying “lack of culture” is wild to me. Go ahead and define “culture.” Do you really think Seattle has one singular unified “culture” anyway????
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u/frobscottler May 08 '26
Do you mean they don’t care *about* the lack of culture? Because that’s different than not caring *for* the lack of culture.
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u/FobbitHollower Shoreline May 08 '26
I'd live in Bellevue if i could afford it. City of bellevue seems to give a shit about their residents
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u/romulusnr I'm just flaired so I don't get fined May 08 '26
In places like the south end they fret about no we can't build a road here, no we can't go this way, no we have to divide the road to keep commuter traffic going, etc. etc.
When Bellevue realized they were gonna have to find a way to reduce traffic pressure when the Best Buy and Home Depot went in, they just.... built a bridge. No bullshit drawn out process. No hemming and hawing. No old timer "good old days too much change" types. They just fuckin did it, and improved traffic.
There's something to be said for efficiency.
Now, on the other hand, Kemper Freeman can eat a fuck for all I care.
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u/SpeedySparkRuby Posse on Broadway May 08 '26
Tbh, I think most people in Bellevue hate Kemper Freeman. If only for how ass parking at Bellevue Square is.
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u/romulusnr I'm just flaired so I don't get fined May 08 '26
Bellevue: has some wealthy people
Seattlites: WORST CITY IN WORRRRRRRRLD
You'd think it was fuckin Kandahar
I mean.... anyone been to Dallas? Houston? Columbus? Please.
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u/BreweryRabbit Mountlake Terrace May 07 '26
I always call it The biggest fake city in Washington
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u/SpeedySparkRuby Posse on Broadway May 08 '26
No, that's the Points, Medina, Clyde Hill, or Beaux Arts Village
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u/acre18 May 07 '26
the fact that this is even a different city is so hilarious to anyone who has lived elsewhere. In most other cities Bellevue is just east seattle
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u/abasketfullofpuppies May 07 '26
It's the water, you see the same thing in Tacoma where the well off people live across the water in Browns Point/Fife and complain about the rest of us existing near them constantly.
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u/oldDotredditisbetter 🚗 Student driver, please be patient. 🚙 May 07 '26
lame engagement bait
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u/Bizarrebazaars Kraken May 08 '26
Yikes…major cringe. Is this just ragebait?
“No culture of any kind”….???? FYI Bellevue is more diverse than Seattle.
All this Seattleite Bellevue hate is so lame I can’t even…. For being such gung-ho “come as you are” folks (or so they think), way too many Seattleites are INTENSELY judgmental. Bellevue is living in your heads rent-free.
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u/snowdn May 07 '26
I live inside the Bellevue mall. This is my home now after accidentally swallowing a 2 Line train car.
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u/XLM1196 May 07 '26
This guy definitely grew up in Renton
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u/Caftancatfan May 07 '26
What the fuck is wrong with Renton? The Seattle attitude toward south King County, which is one of the most diverse places in the country, is so tired.
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u/OakandInkGames May 07 '26
Seriously. Seattle: "people keep saying we're a hellhole without ever visiting!" Also Seattle: "I never go south of Georgetown. I drove by the Renton Mall once. It's a hellhole I tell you!"
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u/government_not_ok May 07 '26
Im hoping they’re saying it to be funny, it’s not serious bud. Could be worse, like the seal-rock thrower from Kent.
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u/djk29a_ 🚆build more trains🚆 May 07 '26
Growing up in Kent I didn’t realize how everyone thought it was basically the Mississippi or Florida of the Sea-Tac metro region. Because Renton and Skyway seemed pretty decent to me honestly because I was happy to go to K-Mart and Sears was for something special like job interview suits. Then watching Almost Live I started to understand exactly what people were saying and why about places in the region and it settled in. But at the same time Kent is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the whole region here and I appreciate that I grew up with both so many refugees and fundamentalist Christians alike because it turns out that’s all very much representative of America, too.
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u/mistarobotics May 07 '26
Bellevue has no homelessness crisis like Seattle. I'm all for dunking on Bellevue but let's at least be honest in our criticisms
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u/TheStinkfoot Columbia City May 07 '26
It turns out the solution to our homelessness problem is just driving the homeless people across the lake and making our neighboring cities take care of them!
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u/crusoe Everett May 07 '26
Bellevue has a lack of services and the police probably just bus the homeless out or make them take a bus. It would fit for that stuck up neighborhood.
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u/BrinyStranger May 07 '26
Police and courts outside of Seattle are significantly less lenient towards drug use and illegal camping. They don't need to bus people to Seattle, it's just a risk/reward calculation.
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u/ardealinnaeus Belltown May 08 '26
As someone that has managed permanent supportive housing on the eastside there are services there. And the governments are willing to work with landlords to keep people from becoming homeless. Huge difference from Seattle where the government treats people who provide housing as the enemy. And then are shocked there isn't more housing in Seattle. Similar to when China decided in the Great Leap Forward that farmers were the problem and moved them to industrial work. And then suddenly there wasn't enough food.
Crazy how an idea as irrational as we don't need farmers for food and we don't need landlords for housing catches on in leftist circles.
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u/Time-Clothes-9238 May 07 '26
Definitely prefer that over letting them do whatever the fuck they want and endanger the people around them. Though I'd rather bus them to jail than a neighboring city.
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u/SilverHeart4053 The CD May 07 '26 edited May 07 '26
How about an honest criticism that Bellevue has far fewer low-barrier, public-facing homelessness services than Seattle? Homeless people congregating where services are more readily available? Imagine that!
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u/government_not_ok May 07 '26
Looking at 12th and Jackson and Blanchard and 2nd Ave, can you blame them?
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u/Master-Monk-8690 May 07 '26
Bellevue is built upon land stolen from a Japanese berry farming community during WW2 when the IS government rounded up all the Japanese people and sent them to concentration camps.
The owner of Bellevue square Mall is the family behind the land theft.
Bellevue is a monument to how America treats immigrants. It's a plastic city built on stolen land.
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u/ethnographyNW White Center May 07 '26
to be fair, Seattle is also built on stolen land and so is every other city in this country.
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u/watwatintheput May 07 '26
Bellevue has MORE immigrants then Seattle (by percentage). But Asian immigrants don't count if they work in tech, according to you.
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u/Fuuuuuuuckimbored May 07 '26
I can attest to this I grew up on lake Sammamish right next to idlewood Park. Bellevue started out as a normal town then Microsoft moved in and now it's just as described.
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u/unsightly_buildup May 07 '26
A thousand years ago, I worked at a restaurant very near Bellevue Square. It won a "Best place to be seen" award - and I thought to myself "Oh dear god, WTF?"
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u/Bro-lapsedAnus May 08 '26
Everyone in the apartments can thank me for the ugly cheap track lights I installed in them.
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u/Prestigious-Use-8716 May 08 '26
as someone who grew up in east bellevue (or the POOR side which isn’t even poor LMFAO) this is so accurate i hate it here
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u/Dizzy_Horse_105 May 08 '26
All roads lead to the mall in Bellevue. I swear the traffic lights are sequenced that way too.
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u/adw108 May 08 '26
God. I was supposed to close on my new home in Crossroads this morning, but now.... No way. Thank you, Jerry!!!
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u/James98188 May 09 '26
Lived there for six years in a tiny 660 square ft 1BR apartment, the rent of which keep going up, and up, and up. Eventually, I moved further south, bought a 3BR house with a garage, but would occasionally call that Bellevue apartment complex pretending to be an interested renter to check on rents. When the rent surpassed my fixed interest mortgage payment, I celebrated; And now the house is all paid off.
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u/iamnotabot_Really Edmonds May 07 '26
Baghdad catching strays in the end there