I kinda wish Seattle had developed on Mercer Island

[mhays]

At a distance of 50 miles, with no rivers from Mt. Rainier to the area, and in the middle of a huge lake, I'm pretty confident there won't be any lahars.

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

sure beats Toronto!

Yes it does, for me anyways.

[The North One]

The actual location is better but I wish Seattle didn't have I-5, It divides the core and makes downtown this awkward little wedge of sloped land between the water and a mega highway.

[RC14]

I like Seattle's location where it is. It is one of only two major US cities on an isthmus.

[ThePhun1]

What's the other one, Madison?

[chris08876]

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

What's the other one, Madison?

Yup Madison, WI. A strip of land with water on both sides connecting landmasses on opposite ends.

[The North One]

Madison isn't a major city though, Seattle is the only major city on an isthmus.

[cannedairspray]

While we're being geeks, when I was little and an aspiring urban planner (I still can only aspire), I would make maps of a hypothetical metropolis at the area around Kingston, ON. Sometimes as far west as Belleville, but mostly centering on the islands and mainland around Kingston.

No, I've never been, or even that close to it. Just thought it would make a cool urban environment.

[Illithid Dude]

Not sure why people keep bringing up that Mercer Island is hilly. NYC was once incredibly hilly as well, but was leveled out in the 1800s. Hills are no barrier to development. Hell, there are even cities that build on the hills, rather than level them. Look at Lisbon, or San Francisco.

[Phil McAvity]

I thought Mercer Island was not only developed but contained many of Seattle's biggest estates and wealthiest residents.

[mhays]

Yes it does. But it's pretty sprawly aside from a decent and fairly dense little lowrise core (I'd guess 1,000 newish apartments in urban format), which will soon have grade-separated light rail.

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by The North One

Madison isn't a major city though, Seattle is the only major city on an isthmus.

Depends on what you mean by major, it's major enough to be known by most people nationally. It's obviously not a top 50 city but still very well known.

[CaliNative]

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

It may have become a New York of the west.

Sort of like wishing downtown L.A. was on the coast at Santa Monica, or San Pedro or Long Beach. San Pedro has a fantastic location, backed by the Palos Verdes hills. Santa Monica has a cold summer climate like San Francisco. But the founding padres of el pueblo L.A. needed to be near the fresh water of L.A. River, far inland, never realizing there would be an aqueduct one day.

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by CaliNative

Sort of like wishing downtown L.A. was on the coast at Santa Monica, or San Pedro or Long Beach. San Pedro has a fantastic location, backed by the Palos Verdes hills. Santa Monica has a cold summer climate like San Francisco. But the founding padres of el pueblo L.A. needed to be near the fresh water of L.A. River, far inland, never realizing there would be an aqueduct one day.

If it were at San Pedro, it'd be the most ideal imo.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by Illithid Dude

Not sure why people keep bringing up that Mercer Island is hilly. NYC was once incredibly hilly as well, but was leveled out in the 1800s. Hills are no barrier to development. Hell, there are even cities that build on the hills, rather than level them. Look at Lisbon, or San Francisco.

It's far more hilly than Manhattan ever was. Seattle is one of the kings of land-reforming, with sizable hills removed. But Mercer Island's hills would be on a different scale.

Regarding the isthmus point, that's nice in some ways but inconvenient for others. Downtown is a funnel for the whole region, including freeways and surface streets. That's why we have more traffic than our 30% SOV commuting rate would suggest. We alleviate that with tunnels (heavy rail tunnel, light rail tunnel, one freeway getting rebuilt as a tunnel, another with a couple of short lids), but that's not enough.

[Phil McAvity]

Originally Posted by ThePhun1

Depends on what you mean by major, it's major enough to be known by most people nationally. It's obviously not a top 50 city but still very well known.

Seattle's obviously not a top 50 city in the US?

[ThePhun1]

Originally Posted by Phil McAvity

Seattle's obviously not a top 50 city in the US?

We were talking about Madison, genius.