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Apple Expands Seattle Presence With New Lease at Two Union Square
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I would totally move back home to Seattle if I got a job there. Seattle is so beautiful, I miss it a lot. I mean....it's awful and gray and gloomy all the time. Don't move there. 
Alas, Seattle doesn't have many opportunities for people my industry (broadcast media). Maybe Apple will start their own production studio!
Alas, Seattle doesn't have many opportunities for people my industry (broadcast media). Maybe Apple will start their own production studio!
This is good news. I prefer if the tech presense was less here in the Bay Area. That way people in non tech jobs can afford to live here. Housing is INSANE here.
I would totally move back home to Seattle if I got a job there. Seattle is so beautiful, I miss it a lot. I mean....it's awful and gray and gloomy all the time. Don't move there.
Alas, Seattle doesn't have many opportunities for people my industry (broadcast media). Maybe Apple will start their own production studio!
They ARE moving a lot of their advertising in-house (which is how my husband got called). I think that's all still in Cali tho.
I actually ask my employer to make me work evenings and weekends so I can have days during the week so I can get out when everybody else is at work. It's no fun going to a park around here on the weekend with all the people.
It's a double-edged sword. The tech industry has made this (IMO) the most diverse, profitable, and competitive area in our country, but it has brought on a massive housing bubble, which didn't seem to deflate much a few years ago when the rest of the country did.
Thanks for the heads up! I'll keep a lookout for postings. But yeah, I have no desire to move to the Bay Area. I live in NYC now and comparatively, Bay Area/Silicon Valley housing/cost of living is INSANE.
My mom worked for Apple in the '80s in Bellevue, WA, when they introduced the Mac. I remember coming home from college for the holidays, and she had brought home the first Mac I had ever seen, with 256K of RAM and no hard drive. I thought MacPaint was pretty cool. It's nice to see them increasing their presence in the area.
Good to hear that they're putting their offices right in the heart of the city, much like Amazon has done here, and not like the situation in the South Bay area where all the tech companies are spread out, far from the city in ever expansive campuses. They might look great on Investor Relations reports, but they make commuting a bear. Most of the tech workers live (or want to live) in the city, and not adding more and more people to an hour-plus commute each way is great on the rest of the people who live in the area and the environment.
Good choice Apple!
Good choice Apple!
You're absolutely correct! Stay away from this state because we're all burning up, have a major 8.6 or greater killer quake every week & the landslides from all the rain will get you in a blink!!
Oh, we have NO water, nor beer or wine due to the severe drought.
Stay away!!
As long as that Super volcano under Yellowstone doesn't blow, hopefully Maiden NC, and Prineville OR will be there for us.....
Living in Seattle now i can tell you that while housing may be cheaper than Cali, it still ain't cheap here. Seattle has huge traffic and infrastructure issues. City gov isn't doing anything to help solve it either, adding bus and bike lanes everywhere, and eliminating car lanes to do it. I work in a building not too far from this building that Apple just bought space in, and live 10 miles away. It takes over 1.5 hours to get in, longer going home.
Tons of construction happening all around the city. If Apple employees want a condo down there, and walk to work...or like city gov would prefer, bike to work...you'll be fine. Need a single family home outside of the city center area you'll waste 3-5 hours/day sitting in traffic.
The weather? Global warming has changed things. Looking for rain, move to the East Coast.
Tons of construction happening all around the city. If Apple employees want a condo down there, and walk to work...or like city gov would prefer, bike to work...you'll be fine. Need a single family home outside of the city center area you'll waste 3-5 hours/day sitting in traffic.
The weather? Global warming has changed things. Looking for rain, move to the East Coast.
That work is helping to solve it. Those bus only lanes were created as part of the bus rapid transit plan the federal government is helping to fund. BRT vehicles in King county are the red RapidRide ones. Those bus only lanes make transit more reliable and usable for people to get to work, taking cars off the road and clearing traffic for those not serviced well by transit. I really don't want to think about what traffic would look like if Metro didn't exist: http://metro.kingcounty.gov/am/why-metro-matters.html
Those protected bike lanes? They also increase the amount of people biking to work vs the older non protected style, and again reduce the number of cars on the road. Here's the graph showing the spike in usage on 2nd Ave, and it's not even interconnected with other bike paths yet: http://1p40p3gwj70rhpc423s8rzjaz.wp...oads/2015/07/2015_0630_Meeting1_final-2nd.jpg
Seattle made a mistake in the 70s by voting down rail when offered federal money. The region is now playing catchup with Sound Transit after also floundering monorail expansion ideas in the 90s. Bus rapid transit helps, but can only go so far.
Seattle simply has too many people and too much desntiy with too little land and very rough terrain to ever have a sustainable car only transportation solution. This applies to a lot of cities in general. Hell even with all the land and spacious highways they have, cities in Texas have massive car traffic issues too. Or look at southern California as another example.
TL
R any area with a semi dense population simply cannot function with cars as the only means of transportation.That work is helping to solve it. Those bus only lanes were created as part of the bus rapid transit plan the federal government is helping to fund. BRT vehicles in King county are the red RapidRide ones. Those bus only lanes make transit more reliable and usable for people to get to work, taking cars off the road and clearing traffic for those not serviced well by transit. I really don't want to think about what traffic would look like if Metro didn't exist: http://metro.kingcounty.gov/am/why-metro-matters.html
Those protected bike lanes? They also increase the amount of people biking to work vs the older non protected style, and again reduce the number of cars on the road. Here's the graph showing the spike in usage on 2nd Ave, and it's not even interconnected with other bike paths yet: http://1p40p3gwj70rhpc423s8rzjaz.wp...oads/2015/07/2015_0630_Meeting1_final-2nd.jpg
Seattle made a mistake in the 70s by voting down rail when offered federal money. The region is now playing catchup with Sound Transit after also floundering monorail expansion ideas in the 90s. Bus rapid transit helps, but can only go so far.
Seattle simply has too many people and too much desntiy with too little land and very rough terrain to ever have a sustainable car only transportation solution. This applies to a lot of cities in general. Hell even with all the land and spacious highways they have, cities in Texas have massive car traffic issues too. Or look at southern California as another example.
TL
We are going to have to take this to another website, it's turning into a city gov discussion that has nothing to to with Apple. For that I apologize. But before we get booted to another website -
Keep believing that the bus and bike lanes are helping. Okay, maybe the bus lanes on freeways are a help. But the other bus improvements that being made are making things worse. Have you been to West Seattle to see what they've done to accommodate the Rapid line? They bumped out the curbs at the bus stops to meet the road. Now the bus stops to pick up/drop off, and traffic can't get around it. It can take several minutes until the bus is ready to move on after passengers get on/off. Now we are all backed up behind the bus. This in itself has actually created more traffic. What used to take 20 min round trip to a local store, now takes double if not more time.
Bike lanes, don't get me started. They removed street parking on 2nd Ave downtown to make way for bike lanes. On the other side of the street is the bus lane, leaving cars to have 2 lanes. Have you driven down there. Try making a turn off of 2nd onto one of the side streets. Good luck, between walkers crossing the street, bikes with their right of way, and the buses that run one after the other. Your lucky if two cars can make a turn under one green light. Again this creates another backup, and travel is now double if not more. Bikers are also a problem in not staying in their lanes. Sometimes they are in the road, sometimes on sidewalks. They have no rules. Furthermore, all of this benefit for them is absolutely free. They pay no taxes to pay for this, no gas tax, or car tabs. Must be nice. Who pays for this work....oh, that's right...the people with cars.
Now take a look at the viaduct and the tunnel. Currently the viaduct is three lanes, and in some places four lanes, in both directions. This tunnel will only have two car lanes, and one bus lane, in each direction. How is going from 3-4 lanes down to 2 lanes helping our traffic situation? Before any tunnel construction started the viaduct was packed with stand still traffic. Now add to the tunnel the idea of making that a toll road, and the truth that for some reason the people here feel a need to hit there breaks before entering and leaving any tunnel structure (look at I90 for proof).
Seattle needs more car lanes and easier access to HOV lanes. I agree with you on the mistake in not voting for rail. It's desperately needed, but will take decades and billions to build. But look at the line they have running right now from Seatac to the city. Notice how it runs right through SODO district, shutting down crossing traffic every time a train comes through. This causes another backup on all of the streets.
It's too late to fix any of this.
Actually, the *really* big one is going to take out the entire west coast for the most part with Seattle being the hardest hit when it comes. The New Yorker article said everything west of I-5 is wet toast in the Pacific Ocean. And then there's the prosecco & whiskey shortage scare. Oof. And I hear almond milk shaming has begun as well. How do you people even live???????