Quote of the Day
Since 2006, Bellevue has actually cut per-resident spending from $5,741 to $4,653 — a 19% decrease. Seattle? It’s ballooned from $5,997 to $8,677 — up 45%. Seattle now spends nearly twice as much per resident as Bellevue for the same basic services.
What’s that money buying? On violent crime, Seattle logs 542 incidents per 100,000 residents. Bellevue: 99. Property crime: Seattle racks up 4,100 cases; Bellevue about 2,200. Seattle residents are also earning less — median household income is $120,000 v. Bellevue’s $160,000.
But here’s the number that stops you cold. Life expectancy in Seattle’s downtown core — Belltown, First Hill — is 71.6 years. East King County, where Bellevue sits, comes in at 84.2. That’s a 13-year gap. Thirteen years of life, separated by a bridge.
Jake Skorheim
May 15, 2026
Jake: Seattle has a Bellevue problem – MyNorthwest.com
See also: Equality of Poverty and Misery is More Desirable than a Range of Prosperity and Happiness.
Seattle could start by not electing admitted socialists and communists to the city council and as mayors. But they probably won’t. They will, almost for certain, advocate for Bellevue to become more like Seattle so as to stop attracting the jobs out of Seattle. Just like in the early days of the USSR it was always the fault of the capitalists. The solution was to confiscate the property and send the capitalists to the gulag and/or a mass grave.
Even with San Fransico and Detroit as examples of their path of folly, Seattle will have to attempt learning the bad lesson for themselves. I just hope they actually do eventually learn. With the contrast of Bellevue just a few minutes away across the lake you would think they would learn quickly. But I expect they will be more successful in exporting their mistakes than importing real solutions.
Just in the last few years a homeless shelter was constructed within walking distance of our home in Bellevue. And in March of this year, Sound Transit completed a “high‑frequency light rail service” connecting Seattle to Bellevue and Redmond. That will make it easier for Seattle criminals to do business in Bellevue and Redmond.
Barb and I will enjoy Bellevue while we can. I see storm clouds in the west coming our way. I’m so glad I have an underground bunker in Idaho we can retreat to.