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Bellevue VS Rachel Belle

August 14, 2012 @ 5:33 pm (Updated: 1:35 pm - 8/15/12 )

By Rachel Belle

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Listen to Bellevue VS Rachel Belle

Sometimes when I'm on the radio, I kind of forget I'm on the radio, and I talk smack about a person place or thing. Like, last week, when I threw Bellevue under the bus. During "Ring My Belle," I mocked the city's campaign to bring in new tourists:

"Belleuve is on this crusade to make themselves a tourist destination. They did some research and they found that a whole bunch of people were coming there to be tourists, allegedly. This is my point: Bellevue, great place to live, but you can't put this out there as a tourist destination. How upset would you be if you came over from England and you get there and you're like, cool, there's the Cheesecake Factory aaaand....that's it! You can't do that! You can't do that to the English!"

Well, two days after that aired, I got a call from our very own John Curley.

"Listen, I don't want to get you too upset, but did you say something about Bellevue the other day? Did you mention something about that the only thing they have is a Cheesecake Factory or a Dress Barn or something like that? This morning actually, at like 6:30 in the morning, I got a call from my buddy who does the PR for Bellevue. I mean, he's not one that over reacts, but he sounded really concerned on the phone. For him to call that early, I think you really pissed somebody off. I think the whole city of Bellevue [is mad at you]. This company represents all of Bellevue. I guess they're running commercials, or something, and you said there's nothing there and..."

So I had to make nice. John put me in touch with Sharon Linton, marketing manager of Visit Bellevue Washington, the campaign that I snubbed, and I invited her to come down to the studio. Man, I was nervous! I was about to go face to face with a woman who hates me. But when Sharon walked in, it was all unicorns and rainbows. Sharon said she wasn't mad at me, that no one was upset with me! What happened to the anger? The fury? Is this just typical passive aggressive Pacific Northwest behavior or has Sharon truly forgiven me for making fun of her pride and joy? That I will never know. But I do know that this tourism campaign isn't targeting the English like I had predicted. She says they're trying to target people who live within five hours of Bellevue. Sharon tried to sell me on Bellevue's natural beauty, like kayaking on Mercer Slough.

"You can see all kinds of nature. I saw a beaver dam, I saw a little otter while I was in there and a bunch of turtles. As you kayak along, you suddenly see the whole skyline of Bellevue up above you."

Sharon swears that there are other places to eat beyond the Cheesecake Factory.

"The Bravern opened up. It has John Howie steak, we've got El Gaucho, Purple Cafe has an outside dining area."

Then she hit the nail on the head: She said people play Scrabble at Crossroads Mall!

"There's a giant chess board that's always being played. Older men playing and little kids playing. There are also all kinds of game tables. There are magic games going on, Pokemon games, people playing Scrabble."

Suddenly I was drinking the Kool-Aid. Where is this Bellevue and how I can I get there?!

I still don't think we should trick the English into coming to Bellevue for a holiday, but perhaps I was a bit harsh on the old suburb. But I have to admit I was kind of looking forward to a good old fashioned smack down.

More Rachel Belle

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Comments (38)


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  • shark75 wrote...
    Leave it to a liberal to prejudge something...
    August 14, 2012 4:51 pm
    You wouldnt like it there anyway Rachel. There's lot sof republicans and not as many men holding hands with each other. You wouldnt like that kind of diversity...
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  • Misturafina wrote...
    Leave it to a non-liberal to prejudge Rachel....
    August 14, 2012 6:25 pm
    Um...that's not diversity as you describe it. Crossroads Mall is very diverse. There are all sorts of gay people in Bellevue. That said there is nothing to do for a tourist other than shop. I see Bellevue now has one live music venue with the recent opening of the Bake's Place. That is as many as Milton,Wa has. Yay!
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  • Citizen of Krazy Town wrote...
    :-|
    August 14, 2012 5:30 pm
    Many eastsiders still spend money in Seattle. But, hey, if MNW wants to alienate them and give them reason to spend those dollars right here in Bellevue then fine by me.

    But think about this: It used to be fun to live in your Ballard fixer-upper, laugh at the zombie suburbanites and work at your Microsoft job. Now, you have sky-rocketing violent crime, crazy traffic and no place to park, a city council that makes Burger Meister Meister Burger look like Mister Rogers and a bank-busting toll bridge that saves commute time by an average of two minutes per trip. It won't be long until we see that Seattle council scratching their heads over where the population went.

    PS: Crossroads happens to be a place where a huge diversity of people get together every day and manage not to murder each other. You always struck me as a supporter of that.

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  • Saltchucker wrote...
    Bellevue used to be a good idea.
    August 14, 2012 6:28 pm
    Way, way back in the 70's when I was a wee tad, bellevue wasn't any different than Bothell or Kenmore or Kirkland. A small eastside town. The eastside started to have a horrible, horrible problem however. Bad, dangerous drivers in fancy cars who had enough money to hire lawyers, so that they never had thier liscences taken away. What to do, what to do? Someone came up with Bellevue! Lets make all these bad driving rich conservatives live in one place! It worked really well until about 1993 or 4. Then they bred like rabbits or something. They enveloped Crossroads, Redmond, Issaquah, Kirkland.....and so on. It's not safe to drive 405 anymore, much less get into bellvue itself! What to do, what to do?
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  • Ted Bundi wrote...
    Ahh Saltchucker
    August 14, 2012 8:53 pm
    You watched Bellevue as I did...
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  • amberella55 wrote...
    Bellevue used to be a good idea
    August 15, 2012 12:30 am
    Having lived in the crossroads area for 13 years before moving, I can honestly say it was Microsoft moving in and taking over 156th ave in Redmond that has caused all the congestion on 405 and 520. Before that company took over the area it was a nice place to live,the traffic was not as bad as it is now. But I'm sure some of it is people from Seattle moving to the eastside to get away from the Seattle politics and crime
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  • JustAnotherFish wrote...
    Borevue
    August 14, 2012 8:49 pm
    There's really nothing special about Bellevue. It's a smaller, safer, snobbier Seattle. WGAF?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • fartforce1 wrote...
    WAGF
    August 15, 2012 9:31 am
    is a bad word
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • antidentite wrote...
    Yet Another Reason I No Longer Listen to Ron & Don
    August 14, 2012 8:49 pm
    I stopped listening to Ron & Don because Rachel Belle is just so drab on the air. I don't really understand why they have her on since she doesn't add any value whatsoever, at least in my opinion. I do still listen to Dori and even Luke in since they provide an interesting perspective on things, but Rachel struggles to make any sense at all on the air. It's too bad I even fall for these non-news posts on mynw.com about Belle.
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  • heartshapedrock wrote...
    Interesting
    August 15, 2012 8:58 am
    You don't listen to Rachel or Ron & Don but you read her blog posts?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • deltta wrote...
    Bellevue is doomed
    August 14, 2012 8:54 pm
    A Jewish girl ALWAYS wins..........
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  • deltta wrote...
    I should say
    August 14, 2012 8:55 pm
    Beer drinking Jewish girl
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  • AprilMayJune wrote...
    Who needs Bellevue?
    August 14, 2012 10:32 pm
    ?
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Nickatnyt wrote...
    Visit Bellevue?
    August 14, 2012 11:00 pm
    The best thing about Bellevue is Park Place motors where you can see many uber-rare cars that as kids we dreamed about driving. After that trip to memory lane (pun intended), I am driving east over the Cascades as fast as I can back to reality and real people. You know, the people who work for a living and vote Republican but can't seem to out-vote all the libtards within 20 miles of I-5.
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  • Daddy Dennis wrote...
    Bellevue
    August 14, 2012 11:36 pm
    I've said it once and I will say it again: When you say "Bellevue" to almost anyone outside of Washington State, they think of a mental hospital.

    Let's see if we can come up with some slogans to help the poor folks...

    Bellevue: Not the one with the crazy people.

    Bellevue: Seattle without the soul.

    Bellevue: Don't make fun of us or we will be sad.

    Bellevue: Lynnwood with big buildings.

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • daveismenotyou wrote...
    You also forget
    August 15, 2012 6:03 am
    how obnoxious you are on the radio.
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