0.14 Revelation  (Page 2/12)

I used to watch him in meetings, pounding on the conference table and talking about “getting” Bill Gates, about “bringing that sucker down,” about “going after” this or that public figure, and I’d find myself lost in a futile effort: trying to imagine a place for a kid like this in the Seattle I carried around in my head.

Deciding one day to try to quantify Seattle’s cool, I wandered over to the Chamber of Commerce offices, which had a wall of file cabinets overflowing with newspaper and magazine clippings about Seattle from all over the nation. I discovered that the attention-surplus trouble started in 1989, when Seattle was listed as the nation’s “most livable” city in five different publications. From then through 1995, the accolades accrued like barnacles. Seattle was cited variously as “the Number Two Best City for Raising Kids” (not, to judge from grunge, a designation the kids themselves would have bestowed), second-best city in which to locate a business, city with the best hotels in the United States, Number Ten on Condè Nast Traveler ’s list of “world’s top cities,” USA Today ’s Number One City of the Future, the best American city for women, best city for business, best North American city for bicycling, sixth-best US metropolitan area for working mothers, the “fifth hottest sports city” in the country, and—according to Trailer Life —one of the country’s best destinations for “RVers.” Even the Kingdome Constantly maligned by the Mariners, who blamed it for its chronic inability to compete. came in for an honor: “The Seattle Kingdome again remains “Again remains”? the showpiece of the Seattle sky line, as it was intended 20 years ago,” declared Roofer Magazine .

I slogged through reams of American newspaper and monthly magazine travel-section stories, all spinning fantasies about Seattle as a beautiful, exotic, nature-embraced city that provided an enchanting alternative to older, decrepit, frayed and frantic urban centers. The Seattle described on these pages was alive with a vibrant culture, rustic charm, European ambience, a stunning natural setting, Inner Peace, and coffee, coffee, coffee. Sunset Magazine , in an archetypal 12-page feature replete with pictures of flower vendors, espresso stands, the Pike Place Market, Pioneer Square, “jolly and helpful” Seattle police, Even pre-WTO, “jolly” was a stretch. and various natural landmarks, described Seattle as “a relaxed city where life satisfaction is measured not in money but in quality of life.” Not to be outdone, Albuquerque Monthly declared, “This is a city whose beauty and sophistication rival that of any in the country.”

Perhaps, I thought, hyperambitious Mike Romano had set his sights on Seattle after coming across the issue of Cosmopolitan that dispensed this breathless advice: “Lady, you want a lot —and Seattle is the place to find it…. Seattle is the place to go if you’re competitive and want to throw yourself headlong into your career and make your mark. The quality of life is so high that the market attracts top talent, so expect to be up against the best and brightest….”