Mukilteo Musings

Police Activity in Federal Way--Traffic Blocked

This is the breaking news this morning. It seems like Federal Way or Lakewood or Tacoma are on the news quite a bit for "police activity". How do I explain Seattle? It is difficult. My kids always asked me "Where are the bad parts of Seattle, Mom?" I have never really been able to answer that question. And the second question, "Why do we always tell people we are from Seattle when we live in Mukilteo?" Well, this one is easy--just try pronouncing Mukilteo and also nobody has ever heard of it.

Seattle proper is really not very large. In fact we figured out after 9/11 that most of the main part of downtown Seattle would fit neatly into Ground Zero in New York. It blew my mind to think of all of downtown Seattle being destroyed--but that is the size of it. The entire I-5 corridor from Federal Way to the south and up through Mukilteo to the north considers itself part of Seattle though a good share of this is outside the Seattle city limits. (Bellevue, on the other side of Lake Washington in my opinion is considered a separate community and that is a whole other story--Bill Gates lives over there.)

So where are the bad parts? It's complicated. Seattle proper is a vibrant city and the cultural center of the area. The sports arenas are downtown; expensive high rise condos are downtown. Posh areas to live like Queen Anne Hill and Capitol Hill are just off of downtown. The houseboat communities are near downtown. The University of Washington is just across the Montlake Cut and only 10 minutes from downtown. Laurelhurst and Madison Park near the U are very expensive places to live. Traffic in the morning on I-5 heads north into the city from Federal Way and south into the city from Mukilteo. Housing prices are more expensive within the Seattle city limits and they decrease the further north you go or the further south. Of course, water plays havoc with that generalization.

Water is everywhere. Generally, Puget Sound borders Seattle to the west and Lake Washington, fresh water, borders to the east. But then there is Lake Union, (where the Kalakala still is today), Green Lake and a lot of hills that have views from the top. So what has happened is that all along the water areas and from the hills where there are views, there tends to be a higher socio-economic population. In any particular area, even five blocks away from water will be less expensive property. As such, there are pockets of areas all over the I-5 corridor that are further from water or where there are no views that have populations lower on the socio-economic scale. The population is heavier to the south of Seattle towards Federal Way; as a result, there are more pockets of tough neighborhoods but there are also lots of nice neighborhoods. After all, Federal Way borders Puget Sound.

The school districts all along the I-5 corridor seem to have a high school closer to the water and a high school further away from the water. The water schools tend to have better test scores. In our school district, Kamiak High School has higher test scores and Mariner lags a bit and has a reputation for being a tougher school. (Kamiak has a drug problem, however, because the kids can afford to get whatever they want and they do.) Ethnicity also tends to be woven throughout the entire Seattle metropolitan area like a rich tapestry. Because the population to the south is heavier, the population is more ethnically diverse than to the north.

So, where are the bad parts?? Well, it depends--where's the water?