Work in Seattle, live in Bremerton? The mayor says cheap rent is just a ferry ride away

If you’ve been kvetching about Seattle’s rising rents, gridlock traffic and $15 cocktails, the City of Bremerton is eagerly welcoming you to move across the water.

“I’m Patty Lent, mayor of the City of Bremerton. I would like young professionals and young families to move to Bremerton,” the mayor says in a new video.

The city spent $5000 on a video campaign to encourage young tech workers to work in Seattle, but live in Bremerton. The Mayor says they’re building four to 500 new townhouses, condos and apartments.

“They are twice the size [of] the pod apartments in Seattle and they’re half the price. Each one has a parking space and they’re located where you have that walkability and that pedestrian feeling in a downtown city.”

But there’s a reason rent is so cheap in Bremerton. It’s not a big city packed with culture. Is Bremerton a place young people would actually want to live? Thirty-something freelance writer and book author Chris Kornelis says yes. He moved to Bremerton from Seattle 10 years ago.

“You know, what I like to tell people is: if you’re disappointed losing what Old Ballard used to be, if you want to come to a somewhat depressed, on-the-rise maritime village, come to Bremerton. You got the scuzziest bars you could ask for and you have a couple nice ones.”

Kornelis and his wife could afford to buy their house when they were in their mid-20’s, on writer salaries.

“Really, it’s kind of ridiculously affordable,” Kornelis says. “We’ve got three bedrooms and a bath and a partially finished basement. I used to play in a band that would practice down there, I’ve got an office down there, it’s got laundry and everything, we’ve got a piano and a music room for our kids down there. I think it’s valued at $160,000 right now, $165,000. You can get close to the water, if not on the water in Bremerton, for $300,000.”

Kornelis used to commute to downtown Seattle daily when he worked as an editor at “Seattle Weekly.”

“If you’re going to have at least an hour commute to work in downtown Seattle, I think you may as well do it from Bremerton. I’d rather do it on the ferry, where there’s a bar and a place to get hash browns, then to do it in my car.”

Kornelis says Bremerton offers community, people are thrilled to have new folks in town.

“Here’s the big difference between Bremerton and Seattle. People cheer in Bremerton when condos go up, rather than the groans. I’ve lived in Seattle before and I’ve lived in Bremerton, it is so different. When you’re in Seattle everyone’s like, ‘Oh, can you believe it, there’s actually growth?’ Oh, can you believe it? There’s more people coming in!’ Bremerton actually wants there to be growth, whereas in Seattle everybody’s like, ‘I want to be the last person to move here and everyone else that moves here is a problem and a racist.'”

The mayor may be targeting tech workers to make the move, but with their large salaries they’re the ones who can afford housing in Seattle. It seems like this would be a smart move for artists, writers and creative types looking for affordable rent, and an unsaturated art scene that they can develop and influence from the ground up.