Seattle: Living Advice?

Location
Seattle
Name
Andrew
This week I acted considerably out of character by applying for a position with my company in downtown Seattle. It's a city we've loved for a long time, and visited whenever we could, but it would be a major, life-changing move. It's far from a sure thing at this point (after a good initial talk, my interview is scheduled for next Tuesday), and finances will really have to line up. It'll pay more, but I'm not in a high-salary segment of the company by any means.

So, for any current or former Seattlites, what should my wife and I know? We are looking at apartments in and around Belltown, Queen Anne etc. My sister in law has lived up there for a couple of years now, so we know the area reasonably well. It would be a street photography dream for me.
 
The traffic is among the worst in the country. Housing market is nuts.
Right in through Seattle, yes, but the secret is the toll tunnel which I think is part of hwy 99. Costs a couple of bucks but it's worth it for the almost perennial jam on the 5 freeway. However what we're looking at would keep us on surface streets or public transit pretty much always. For public transit, we usually use the light rail or even the monorail, but where we are looking would have a very simple 15 minute bus ride to and from where I'd be working. Given how expensive a parking space is, might only keep one car.
 
Monorail, you say?

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Never lived in Seattle but I've visited it numerous times - and one of my favorite sections is Capitol Hill, which has an eclectic and diverse bunch of old houses, apartments, coffee shops, bars and eateries atop one of the hills above the downtown area. If I were moving to Seattle, it would be one of the first places I would look. I would only offer two other caveats. The first is that you may wind up spending more time in your car (or cars, plural) than you thought; Seattle traffic can be challenging, and locals come up with many strategies to avoid the frequent jams or crushing traffic. The point being: if you may have to spend more time than you thought in your car, it helps if a) it's a truly comfortable car, b) it's small and zippy enough to be maneuverable or find hard-to-squeeze-into parking places, and c) manual transmissions are a bad idea for traffic jams. The other caveat is a sad-but-true one: after years of living in relatively friendly small-towns in Oregon, extended stays in the larger metropolises, both Portland but especially Seattle, you have to readjust your thinking to remember that, for example, you can't just park your car anywhere in certain downtownish areas, because it may get broken into. I never think about that in small Oregon towns but in some parts of Seattle, alas, you have to.

But in terms of art and specifically music, it's truly a wonderful city. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that things will work out in the best way you wish.
 
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