Advice for a transplant
 

What's up every1.

Born n' raised in Jersey but have been in South Florida for the past 9 years. I'm about to move to the Seattle area in a few weeks, still not sure of which area but most likely West Seattle.

Anyhow, just looking for advice on how to take care of my car, where to and where not to drive. I see most folks in the area drive the speed limit, is that true ? Johnny Law tough on speeders ?

Anyhow, can't wait to get myself behind the wheel and on some Pacific asphalt.... Florida driving sucks, two main highways, shi- load of traffic and and wayyyyyy to many old farts clogging the road.

http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/e...t?oid=21567038

http://www.kpluwonders.org/content/w...e-so-hard-melt

http://www.seattlerex.com/the-worst-...-dissertation/

Dont:

1. Drive anywhere. Seriously. That's what the city wants. That's what a portion of the city's inhabitants want. That's what will keep you out of traffic.
2. Try to drive across the West Seattle Bridge into Seattle any time between 7:00AM and 9:00AM.
3. Drive more than 10mph over the speed limit.
4. Expect people to move out of the way if you're driving faster than them.

Do:

1. Buy coffee three times a day, every day.
2. Wear a turtle neck and hipster glasses.
3. Avoid Bellevue traffic anytime between 12:00AM and 11:59PM.
4. Attend the monthly 86 Sessions meet.

When I drove in Seattle. It sucked. It's not really a lowered car friendly environment. Traffic sucks.

I dunno about the hipster glasses and turtlenecks but what Locust said x1000.

Oh, watch out for Prii (Priuses?) and Smart fourtwos. Pretty much self explanatory there...

West Seattle is a good area, nice decision. You'll have fun with the back roads here in Washington. :)

In addition of Priuses.... Watch out for Bicyclists........... they don't look for you. You have to look for them and they are everywhere.

Stay away from Kent, you must never go there. Or any of the outskirts for that matter. lol.

Watch out for camera at school zone. you have to go under 20MPH. Even if you over only 1 mile i.e 21mph. You will get a ticket in the mail with picture of your car as proof.

A Liverpool fan! :thumbup:

West Seattle is tucked up into a corner against the water.
Nowhere to go except through the city to get to the mountain roads.

Should probably determine where you will be working first, then try to find a spot on the outskirts close as possible to work.
Driving from one end of town to the other and back every day will definitely turn you into a morose moss covered hipster.

YNWA :cheers:

yeah downtown seattle isn't the most lowered car friendly place, but i've enjoyed some easy going night cruises around the city. Def check out Alki beach, def check out some great driving roads we have (joins seattle cars and coffee facebook group) and slythen on here has a group he likes to run with. make sure to try the seafood, try some street fare, check out the EMP museum and totally come out to our eightsix sessions run by @HATED1 and his short and fiery second in command @Missy

also, don't ever cross missy. you will end up in a body bag.

Thanks for all of the info everyone, much appreciated.

How about parking... I really don't want nor sure if I can afford a $200 a month charge to park in a garage. How safe is street parking ? I know the usual pitfalls of dings and scratches may come from parking on the street but are break ins and theft that bad ?

Also... how is the White City area ? The most affordable places to live I see are around there but the stories I've read makes it seem to be full of lowlife's ?

I'll fudge you up yo..

Parking in West Seattle is ok. Never had trouble with street parking. Just don't leave shiny things in your car and you should be ok (rule applies to any part of the country).

You mean White Center? I've switched between White Center/South Park area all my life. Honestly, its not as bad as it seems. However, I never walk around at night. That's when incidents could happen. Make sure you lock your doors and all that jazz. If you want more peace of mind, stick with West Seattle. That's why its a bit more expensive :P

If you wish, I can show you around the immediate area once you make the move here. Pretty much know the place like the back of my hand.

All this Seattle talk makes me want to stay in the Portland area...

You're from Jersey, right? You can handle White Center. It's the crime/low income area of the greater West Seattle area. Your other option is an Apodment. There are a bunch of these popping up. Little 200-400sqft apartments for like $600-$800 a month.

If you're talking parking in West Seattle just park on the street and you'll be fine. If you're talking parking in Downtown Seattle there's no such thing as cheap street parking. I guess you could park like 2 miles away and walk where you need to go but at that point why even bother doing that instead of busing it?

I live off California Ave in West Seattle near the Zeek's Pizza and it's a pretty nice area. If you go about 10 minutes south you start to hit the lower cost places but it's still relatively safe.

If you don't want your car broken into just never leave anything of value visible. Cars with alarms don't get targeted anywhere near as much as cars without them. Thieves in the area are pretty smart I've gotta hand that to them at least because they typically target cars with no alarms that have gym/shopping bags sitting in plain sight.

You'll probably never get near him 'cause you're too scared to drive more than 10 miles.

If he decides to come to a meet then he'll be coming to me! Ha, suck that deezy, yo!

To reiterate what others have been saying.

White center is a sketchy area and crime is HIGH there. I have so many stories about that place. If you live on/near downtown DO NOT park on the street. I made the mistake of having a new car when i first moved to downtown and have experienced everything from light love taps to foot prints/large dents on my roof/hood (of my older car).

Roads downtown are generally horrible, so i wouldn't recommend dropping the car if you live near downtown. If you plan on living south i would say avoid the Rainier Beach, Othello, and Skyway area. Those areas are pretty bad for gang activity.

I would also have to recommend you try to avoid living in the White Center area due to the high crime rate as well.

then thing with the 6-800 dollar apodments, which is really just like a hotel room with a kitchenette (microwave and bar fridge) is that they are low income housing and you have to make less than 40k a year. you'll have to find the ones that go for closer to a grand if you make more money.

No they're not. The city has required that the average income of all tenants be within a certain range but you are not restricted from living in one simply because you make more than that average. They built one on the subplot of my lot and I've talked extensively with the builder/owner about it as I was concerned about that affecting my property value.

i mean you can argue with me if you'd like, but i have first hand account of being denied the ability to live several places because i made too much money.

Were you trying to live in low income housing? I know that they have government endorsements so they have to be picky, but the average person shouldn't care O-o weird.

EDIT: reading full context, you were talking about low income housing. woooo

There's a difference between low income housing and apodments. Not all apodments are low income.

you're right, and that's what i said as well. the ones in the price range you specified in the capitol hill and surrounding area are, the ones that aren't cost a bit more.

I never said Cap Hill? I was talking about the new ones going up all over West Seattle... Come on brah, focus.

sure thing cupcake, ;)

A little late on my reply here... about 1 year late, sorry. Yesterday actually marked my 1 year anniversary of being in Seattle.

The info you guys gave me really helped me out.... Thank you.

I wound up moving to North Seattle, Lake City District.

For the first 3/4 months of being here I would have to drive from North Seattle over to Bellevue at 4:30am. I would take LCW/522 to I-5 South to I-90... man oh man was that fun. I would be about the only person on the road and I'd average 90-100mph...that route is something out of Gran Turismo, pure driving bliss with the tunnels, bridges and city skyline.

Outside of the city, Highway 3 (Kitsap) and 20 (Cascades) are super fun to drive around... I can't get enough of those roads. Snow on the road...no problem w/Winter tires on the FR-S.... I'm cruising by SUV's with ease.

All in all...love it out here, gorgeous scenery, good people and nice quality of life. I miss the warm ocean of Miami but that's about it.

If you see a White FR-S with Florida Police plates and a LFC sticker on the bumper, toss me a hello. Thanks again for all of the input, it really did help make up mind as to where to live in the city.

YNWA indeed!:party0030:

I'm biased...
 

Coming from LA... I would never consider living anywhere close to Seattle given the similarities of horrific traffic, lack of parking (or This is a hold-up! parking), exorbitant housing prices, and on, and on.... Big city life is not for me! (YMMV)

Unless your work dictates being close to Seattle, there are other areas (in all four directions) outside the boundary that one might consider... many of them with some outstanding back roads where a 86 really shines!

(Getting out of FL has got to be a great thing to anticipate!!)