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Bellevue, Washington

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City of Bellevue, Washington
City
Official seal of City of Bellevue, Washington
Seal
Location of Bellevue within King County, Washington, and King County within Washington.
Location of Bellevue within King County, Washington, and King County within Washington.
CountryUnited States
StateWashington
CountyKing
Government
 • MayorGrant Degginger
Area
 • Total33.9 sq mi (87.8 km2)
 • Land30.7 sq mi (79.6 km2)
 • Water3.2 sq mi (8.2 km2)
Elevation
85 ft (26 m)
Population
 (April 1, 2006)
 • Total117,000
 • Density3,800/sq mi (1,470/km2)
Time zoneUTC−8 (Pacific)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−7 (Pacific)
Area code425
FIPS code53-05210Template:GR
GNIS feature ID1512000Template:GR
Websitehttp://www.ci.bellevue.wa.us/

Bellevue is a rapidly growing city in King County, Washington, U.S., across Lake Washington from Seattle. Long known as a suburb or satellite city of Seattle,[1] it is now categorized as an edge city or a boomburb.[2] In 2003 the Census Bureau estimated the city had a total population of 112,344, making it the fifth largest city in the state and the largest on the Eastside of King County. According to the Washington State Office of Financial Management's April 1, 2006 estimate, the city has a population of 117,000.[3]

Downtown Bellevue is undergoing rapid change. Lincoln Square, which opened in 2005, and a recently-completed overhaul of the former Qwest building into a new City Hall appear to be the leading edge of a development boom.[4] Over the next few years, the area will see the construction of several additional high-rises and other projects for office, residential, and retail space.

Based on per capita income, Bellevue is the 15th wealthiest of 522 communities in the state of Washington.[citation needed]

History and growth

Bellevue was founded in 1869 by William Meydenbauer and was officially incorporated on March 21, 1953. Prior to the opening of the Lake Washington Floating Bridge in 1940, Bellevue was a rural area with little development. Once the bridge opened, access from Seattle improved, and the area gradually grew into a bedroom community.[5]

Bellevue seen from Medyenbauer Bay in 1902

Following the 1963 opening of a second bridge across the lake, the Evergreen Point Floating Bridge, the city began to grow more rapidly. It has since become one of the largest cities in the state, with several high-rise structures in its core and a burgeoning business community.[5]

Reflective of Bellevue's growth over the years is Bellevue Square, now one of the largest shopping centers in the region. Opened in 1946,[5] Bellevue Square underwent a significant expansion in the 1980s. More recently, an expansion to Bellevue Square along Bellevue Way called "The Lodge" and the new One Lincoln Tower promise to strengthen downtown Bellevue's role as the largest Seattle Eastside shopping and dining destination. The Bravern, a large mixed-use project currently under construction, will feature a Neiman Marcus (the first in the Pacific Northwest), along with an assortment of more ordinary stores.

Bellevue's size stabilized during a regional downturn in the early 2000s, but growth has since resumed. The first phase of Ashwood Commons, a mostly-residential hi-rise, recently completed construction. A second office tower is under construction at Lincoln Square, as are Avalon Meydenbauer, new mixed-use development with a Safeway flagship store and luxury apartments, and Bellevue Towers, a two-tower eco-luxury condominium project with a block-long urban garden and retail space. Another development similar to Lincoln Square is also planned, and a "superblock" development called Washington Square will cover nine city blocks and eventually include six 22-story towers.

Other projects in Bellevue's future include Meydenbauer Place, a new Performing Arts Center, a second City Center office tower (which broke ground in July 2006), three more residential towers, and resumption of work on the previously abandoned Tech Tower site, now called Tower 333 -- Expedia will occupy 16 of its 20 floors. Developers are not expecting to have difficulty finding tenants for these new construction projects.

Geography

Growing Bellevue skyline as seen from Downtown Park. Towers visible (L to R) are One Lincoln Tower, Symetra Tower, Key Center, City Center Bellevue, One Bellevue Center, and Skyline Tower.

Bellevue is located at 47°35′51″N 122°9′33″W / 47.59750°N 122.15917°W / 47.59750; -122.15917Invalid arguments have been passed to the {{#coordinates:}} function (47.597554, -122.159245)Template:GR.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 87.8 km² (33.9 mi²). 79.6 km² (30.8 mi²) of it is land and 8.2 km² (3.2 mi²) of it (9.29%) is water.

The city's name is derived from a French term for "beautiful view". Under favorable weather conditions, scenic vistas of the Olympic Mountains and Cascade Mountains can be viewed from hilltops (and strategically-positioned high-rise buildings) within the incorporated city.

The city lies between Lake Washington to the west and the smaller Lake Sammamish to the east. Much of Bellevue is drained by the Kelsey Creek watershed, whose source is located in the Larsen and Phantom Lake greenbelt and whose outlet is near where Interstate 90 meets Lake Washington's eastern shore. The city is bisected by Interstate 405 running north-south, and the southern portion is crossed from west to east by Interstate 90. The 520 freeway roughly delineates the upper reaches of Bellevue.

South of I-90 the city’s Eastgate neighborhood continues up Cougar Mountain. To the west of Cougar Mountain, Bellevue includes Coal Creek and Factoria.

Bellevue is bordered by the cities of Kirkland to the north and Redmond to the northeast along the Overlake and Crossroads neighborhoods. Across the short East Channel Bridge, I-90 connects Bellevue to Mercer Island to the southwest. Issaquah is to the east, down I-90 at the south end of Lake Sammamish. The city is also bordered to the west by the extremely wealthy suburbs of Medina, Clyde Hill, Hunts Point and Yarrow Point. The south end of Bellevue is bordered by the city of Renton, and to the southeast, the relatively recently incorporated city of Newcastle.

Transportation

Bellevue is the main Eastside hub for both the local transit authority, King County Metro, and Sound Transit, the regional transit system. The Bellevue Transit Center, which serves both Metro and Sound buses, is located in the heart of the downtown business district and is connected to Interstate 405 by NE 6th St. and a direct-access Texas T HOV ramp. Local buses run into Kirkland, Redmond, Issaquah, Renton, and the University District; regional buses go to Bothell, Lynnwood, Everett, Seattle, Renton, Kent, Auburn and Federal Way, among other cities.

The East Link light rail line is planned to run from Seattle through Mercer Island and Bellevue before ending in Redmond. A package including this and other road and transit projects will go before voters in November of 2007. However, there are some controversial aspects to the plans and the outcome of the vote is uncertain.

Among the various proposals under consideration is a Sound Transit (ST) / Regional Transportation Improvement District (RTID) package tentatively to be put before the voters in 2007. The joint Sound Transit / RTID seeks to avoid the classic roads vs rail debate and fund light-rail completion north in Seattle as well as East Link. There are also plans to expand I-405 along most of the urbanized length, a replacement of the SR-520 Bridge across Lake Washington, and the replacement of the Alaskan Way Viaduct in Seattle. The financial uncertainty of the area's numerous transportation projects reflect the political fragmentation of the Puget Sound area. What is becoming apparent are the increasing costs associated with the central Puget Sound's regional transportation infrastructure.

Bellevue is also served by a railroad, a Burlington Northern branch line known as the Woodinville Subdivision, which includes the historic Wilburton Trestle. This local freight line is the subject of a controversial and costly plan by King County to remove the rails and replace them with a bicycle trail. In response, a grass roots movement has sprung up to both save the railroad and begin a rail transit service on it as an alternative to the heavily congested I-405 freeway, which runs roughly parallel to it.

Government and politics

Bellevue City Hall

Bellevue has a Council-Manager form of government. [1], with seven, non-partisan council members elected at large for staggered four-year terms. The City Council selects a Mayor from among its members, who serves as council chair but has no veto power. As of 2006, the mayor is Grant Degginger and the city's manager is Steve Sarkozy.

The position of Mayor is largely ceremonial in Bellevue as the City Manager runs the City's day-to-day operations. The mayor runs council meetings, helps choose the issues that get on the council's meeting agendas, and serves as the city's most visible spokesperson. The position of Mayor is part-time. In practice, operational authority is held by the City Manager, the position that supervises an employee/consultant form of municipal authority.

In the 2004 U.S. presidential election, Bellevue residents cast 57.10% of their votes for Democrat John Kerry.[6]

Education

Bellevue is home to Bellevue Community College (BCC) and City University. The highly rated BCC is the largest community college in Washington and the third largest institution of higher education in the state.

The city hosts the Bellevue School District. Its four main public high schools - Bellevue High School, Interlake High School, Newport High School, and Sammamish High School were all included in Newsweek's listing of the Best High Schools in America (measured by the number of AP tests taken divided by the number of seniors). The Bellevue School District also has two alternative high schools, International School (which also made the list) and Robinswood High School. Four main high schools and International are the top-five ranked high schools in Washington State. Stevenson Elementary School, Odle Middle School, and Interlake High School offer the PRISM program, a program for gifted children. A full-day Spanish immersion program begins in elementary school at Puesta del Sol, and continues part-time through Tillicum Middle School and Newport High School. Sammamish High School is the designated Arts Magnet of the district, featuring a highly competitive choir and fine arts program with a professional hot glass studio.

At the elementary level, Bellevue is home to the Eastside's only Waldorf Education, at Three Cedars School, and to several Montessori schools.

Economy

With its immediate proximity to Redmond, home of Microsoft, and direct highway access to Seattle via Interstate 90 and Washington State Route 520, Bellevue is now home to the headquarters of many small and large businesses. Many of these are technology companies, most started in the 1990s. The city has numerous thriving commercial districts. It also immediately borders the tiny but extremely affluent Lake Washington “Gold Coast” district (Medina, Hunts Point, Clyde Hill, and Yarrow Point), whose residents include Bill Gates and control a large portion of the local wealth. Besides Bellevue Square, there are three major shopping centers in the city: Factoria Mall to the south, Crossroads Mall to the East, and the Overlake Shopping District in the north.

Companies headquartered or with major operations in Bellevue include:

  • 180 Solutions, Inc. - "Permission based" marketing software - aka spyware.
  • 5TH Cell - A video game developer that works on handheld, mobile and PC.
  • ArenaNet - PC game developer famous for Guild Wars; many ArenaNet employees used to work for Blizzard Entertainment.
  • Bellevue Nursery – An independent full-service nursery serving the Eastside for over 50 years.
  • Bocada – leading provider of enterprise data protection management software.
  • Brio Realty – A national real estate company that utilizes the internet to deliver better home buying experiences for its customers.
  • Centeris - Leader in the Windows to Linux migration software industry.
  • Coinstar, Inc. - Owner and operator of coin-exchanging kiosks found in supermarkets.
  • Drugstore.com - An online pharmacy and information site for health, beauty, wellness, personal care, and pharmacy products.
  • Eddie Bauer - Is relocating its Headquarters from Redmond, WA to a 28-story office tower at Lincoln Square, which will be completed in mid-2007. It will share this tower with Microsoft's North American Sales Headquarters.
  • Expedia, Inc. – An online travel company.
  • The Generations Network - Headquartered in Bellevue, version 2.0 of MyFamily.com is a secure social networking service which allows anyone to create a family or group website (e.g., a class reunion site, a club site) within a matter of minutes.
  • InfoSpace - A growing Internet private-label search engine and online directory that survived the dot.com bust of the 1990s. It’s reemerging in the mid 2000’s with a mobile entertainment offering.
  • Microsoft - Recently announced that it will lease the top 15 floors of a 28 story office tower being built at Lincoln Square, across the street from Bellevue Square. They will relocate their North American Sales Group Headquarters to the building and will share it with Eddie Bauer's world Headquarters. (Microsoft Pacific Northwest District already occupies space in Bellevue at Civica Office Commons.)[7]
  • Paccar Inc – A multinational technology company that manufactures heavy duty Class 8 trucks (Semis) sold around the world under the Kenworth, Peterbilt, and Foden nameplates.
  • Print Inc - Toner and Printer Service Provider.
  • QFC - Quality Food Centers, headquartered in Bellevue, is a Washington and Oregon chain of upscale grocery stores. (A wholly-owned subsidiary of Kroger.)
  • ShareBuilder - An online broker allowing investors to automatically and regularly invest in stocks and ETFs, even in small amounts.
  • Symetra - Life insurance company.
  • Talyst - Providing automated systems to hospitals and other centralized pharmacies, to reduce costs and increase productivity, while improving accuracy and patient safety.
  • T-Mobile – Headquarters for their US operations are located in Factoria, a neighborhood of Bellevue. They operate an all-digital, national wireless phone network, and a Wi-Fi network with over 18,000 public locations.
  • Uievolution - A mobile software company (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Square-Enix).
  • Valve Corporation – A video game developer made famous by its first product, Half-Life.
  • WizKids - Non-electronic game developer producing everything from collectible miniatures games to board games.

Demographics

As of the censusTemplate:GR of 2000, there were 112,344 people, 45,836 households, and 29,060 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,411.4/km² (3,563.6/mi²). There were 48,396 housing units at an average density of 607.7/km² (1,574.0/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 74.33% White, 1.99% African American, 0.32% Native American, 17.39% Asian, 0.23% Pacific Islander, 2.54% from other races, and 3.19% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 5.32% of the population. Bellevue residents are known as Bellevueites.

There were 45,836 households out of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.0% were married couples living together, 7.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.6% were non-families. 28.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size was 2.93.

In the city the population was spread out with 21.1% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 32.6% from 25 to 44, 25.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 98.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 96.6 males.

According to a 2006 estimate, the median income for a household in the city was $76,757, and the median income for a family was $89,020.[2] Males had a median income of $56,456 versus $37,124 for females. The per capita income for the city was $36,905. About 3.8% of families and 5.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.7% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.

Bellevue was rated one of the 25 safest cities in America, based on the per-capita incidence of violent crime.

Culture

Bellevue is the site of the popular annual Bellevue Arts & Crafts Fair, held since 1947 at the end of July.

Bellevue Arts Museum

The Bellevue Arts Museum first opened in 1975, then moved to Bellevue Square in 1983. In 2001 the museum moved into its own building, designed by Steven Holl. The museum subsequently ran into financial difficulties and was forced to close to the public in 2003. After a lengthy fundraising campaign, a remodel, and a new mission to become a national centre for the fine art of craft and design, the museum re-opened on June 18, 2005 with an exhibition of teapots. [8]

The Rosalie Whyel Museum of Doll Art contains one of the largest doll collections in the world—more than a thousand dolls—displayed on two floors of a Victorian-style building.[9]

Opened in December 2005, Bellevue’s newest museum to date is KidsQuest Children’s Museum. Located in Factoria Mall, a shopping complex in the midst of a major remodel, its primary visitors are mothers and care givers with children from pre-crawlers to 12 years of age. Its 10,000 square foot space houses play and discovery areas, exhibits, offices, educational activities and classroom space.

The biennial Bellevue Sculpture Exhibition draws thousands of visitors to the Downtown Park to view up to 46 three-dimensional artworks from artists around the country.

Bellevue is rapidly growing in size and diversity. As of August 2006, latest census estimates show Bellevue has a higher percentage of nonwhite residents than Seattle. Nearly a third of the city's residents are foreign-born, up from a quarter five years ago. Bellevue has the highest percentage of foreign-born residents among major cities in the state. In 2005, 32% of residents are nonwhite. The largest communities come from China, India, Russia and Mexico, attracted to business and tech industry jobs, manual labor jobs, quality schools and parks.

Bellevue has the largest and most affluent Asian population in the state. As of 2005, 25% of the city's residents identify themselves as Asian, a rise from 17% in 2000. East Indian and Chinese communities have doubled in size since 2000.

Sports

Bellevue is home to the American Basketball Association team, the Bellevue Blackhawks. The Blackhawks in 2005, despite being ranked 13th in the league, made it to the championship game in front of 15,000 fans in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Gallery

Famous residents

Points of interest

Sister Cities

Bellevue has the following sister cities:[10][11]

References

  1. ^ Danny Westneat (2006-12-14). "Is Bellevue a "new Brooklyn?"". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-02-28. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ K. Hinton, A. Tijerino (June 22, 2001). ""Boomburbs": The Emergence of Large, Fast-Growing Suburban Cities in the United States" (PDF). Fannie Mae Foundation. Retrieved 2006-08-10.
  3. ^ "Official April 1, 2006 Population Estimates". Office of Financial Management. June 29, 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
  4. ^ "More downtown Bellevue builders gambling on spec development". King County Journal. January 8, 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-09.
  5. ^ a b c Stein, Alan J. (November 09, 1998). "Bellevue -- Thumbnail History". HistoryLink.org. Retrieved 2006-12-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  6. ^ "Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". Dave Leip.
  7. ^ Benjamin J. Romano (May 16, 2006). "Microsoft sold on Bellevue, 15 floors of Lincoln Square". Seattle Times. Retrieved 2007-07-31.
  8. ^ Pastier, John (January 08, 2001). "Bellevue Art Museum". HistoryLink.org. Retrieved 2006-12-07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  9. ^ "Rosalie Whyel Doll Museum". 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
  10. ^ "Washington's Sister Cities, Counties, States and Ports". Washington State Lieutenant Governor's Office.
  11. ^ "Online Directory: Washington, USA". Sister Cities International.

External links

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