seattle neighborhoods and schools

[khanania]

Oh and Azdreamer and texas girl - do you just lurk around and judge people on the forum - or do you actually help them answer their questions?

[Ira500]

Khanania,
I can't think of anywhere in the Seattle area where you''ll get greeted with " Where's you're home church?"
Sure, there are churches here ( even mega churches) just as there are Republicans here, but because there is such an abundance of lefty non believers, the church stuff and the right wing stuff is here more subtle..And people out here tend to be a little more relaxed about that kind of stuff anyway. That said, I did go to an event a few years ago held at a Foursquare Church south of Seattle, and just as soon as people starting talking, someone asked me where my home church was. I'd never even heard the phrase before.
I was nice about it. I could have said " I'm a Socialist Jewish agnostic" or something just to get a rise, but I smiled and said " Oh, just a little church up in the north end."
You can't be sentenced to hell for simply lying about one's church affiliation in a church, can you?

[khanania]

I have no problem with church goers - as long as they have no problem with me! SAme goes for republicans! I have lived in the Middle East most of my life and am always left alone with my beliefs re religion and politics. It's only when I travel to Texas that I get an earful! I hired someone to do repairs on my home there last summer - made the mistake of telling him I supported the pres. His entire face turned beet red - he started yelling at me and calling me a commie lover. He was honestly spitting while he was talking ! I know there are kooky people everywhere, but I would just like to avoid these type of incidents as much as possible. Maybe a neighborhood where I am not grossly outnumbered? I am originally from Texas, so I have many friends and family that are conservatives = but they respect my beliefs as I do theirs.

So...back to the original question. What about Sammamish?

[nfdsouza2001]

I wish you well in Seattle. I agree with Ira Seattle is a live and and live area. However as you so rightly mentioned there are kooks on both sides and extremists of every spectrum, as long as you agree with them. I lots of friends in the middle east, who love it there. Bellevue is a nice place to be with the diversity and balance that everybody needs. Sammamish is nice area too with a good school system. It is a harder commute to Seattle.

[Ira500]

People like Sammamish, and it's mostly in the Issaquah school district. They built a ton of houses in Sammamish over the last ten years, but really haven't improved the infrastructure to adequately accommodate that, so traffic can be godawful at times. Home prices there tend to be lower than Bellevue's and Mercer Island's and Issaquahs, and most of the homes are newer, and some have either lake Sammamish watrefront or at least nice lake views...Away from Lake Sammamish, the area around Pine Lake in Sammamish is also very nice.

[texastrigirl]

kahania, to answer your question directed at me specifically...if you would do a little searching on my name you'd see I spend a great deal of time helping people on CD with 814 posts (thus I don't believe I qualify as a lurker) and I have been on this board a bit of time. I live in Sammamish and you can search for my posts to see how helpful I am specifically regarding Sammamish. I have even made a few real live friends from CD so I would ask you to reconsider your comments as maybe a rush to judgment yourself?

Since you are new to CD (I can see you have 6 posts to your name) I just want to encourage you to consider the tone of your posts. Even if you are frustrated with your current situation, you have to consider that if you were meeting someone for the first time face to face, you might chose to phrase your question differently to as not to offend or off put someone who could potentially be a friend or at least a resource. Most people will respond on this board and be helpful if the initial tone is positive just as if they would if you were meeting them in person...and that is usually the case even if you disagree on basic issues. It's called respect. You get it if you give it.

I happen to be a conservative Christian who is married to a sometimes Democrat who is not especially fond of church. I can vote liberally from time to time where education and certain social issues are involved. I also happen to have lived in Austin TX for a long time with people of different religions and political beliefs and got along just fine with all of them. So that's a little background on me and I get what you are saying about the kind of Texans you live near even if I didn't like the way your phrased it. I am always respectful of others who are respectful of me but I do not persecute those who do not feel the same way I do. So maybe you can take advice from me or not. That's up to you.

Now to be helpful and answer your question. As for Sammamish, it is on the Eastside which is the more conservative part of King County. But by Houston TX standards, it will feel pretty liberal to you. I think it is safe to say most of my neighbors don't go to church and most voted for Obama. If anything, I get asked "You go to church?" with a tone more of "Why in the world would you even consider going to church?"...so the tone of "intolerance" swings the other direction up here. I would think you would be very comfortable in that regard. As a few people have posted, people in this area are not typically very open about personal things...especially when compared to Texans who are extremely open about most things. So religious beliefs will not likely come up unless you have known someone for quite some time.

Sammamish is split between the Issaquah School District on the south end and the Lake Washington School District on the north end. Both of them have terrific schools in Sammamish though I believe the Issaquah School District ranks more highly overall on the Washington State Report Card website. We have been really happy with the schools here and especially the access to beautiful parks and nature...right outside our door literally as we live right near Pine Lake which one of the jewels of Sammamish along with Beaver Lake. Lake Sammamish of course borders part of Sammamish as well. The commute to downtown can be 45-55 minutes in rush hour but there are many buses downtown. It takes about 20 minutes to get downtown in no traffic which I find acceptable but I don't live too far off of I-90 which I think is key when considering living in Sammamish. You want to stay on the south end away from 520 unless of course you will be working at Microsoft. I disagree that the traffic here is any worse than other parts of Seattle but that's just my personal experience. They are also spending money fixing traffic problems in Sammamish so that's a good thing. I would say that Sammamish lacks amenities you would find in Issaquah and Redmond such as big box retail, lots of restaurants, etc. but many people would tell you that's why they love Sammamish. It is very safe and family friendly and is just plain beautiful. We live just over the border of Issaquah so Costco, Trader Joes, Target, restaurants, etc. feel very close for us.

You might also consider Bellevue. Especially since the market has dropped and you can get into a house for a bit less than you could a year or two ago. I have no idea what your price range is but we had a serious amount of sticker shock coming here from Texas. We tripled our mortgage and got maybe a slightly larger and much older house, much further from the city, with an upgrade in schools, which were most important to us.

Let me know if you have any other questions. My kids are now 6 and 9 and are involved in a wide range of activities. Good luck!

[texastrigirl]

Sorry, you did specify your budget. For 1 million you should first try Mercer Island. MI schools are generally regarded as the best schools in the state. There is also the French American School on Mercer Island (and likely many other private schools) should you decide the public schools are not for your kids. If you did go for Issaquah/Sammamish at 1 million, I would tell you to live on Lake Sammamish. But that's me...living on the water is a dream!