In this recent article, even liberal PI columnist Joel Connelly shares his frustration with Seattle's War on Cars:

An Eastside buddy, noting a birthday this scribe studiously sought to overlook, wanted to give me a good-natured bad time over dinner.  He proposed to do it in Bellevue.  Two words melted my hesitation: Wild Ginger.

The dinner has since inspired several across-the-lake get-togethers for business and enjoyment.

Unlike Seattle, with its 8 p.m. parking meters, free street and city parking is readily available, Bellevue.  Streets are not gridlocked due to being put on "road diets."  Sidewalks are not enduring months-long closures for construction.  The drive back across Lake Washington on S.R. 520 features a drop-dead panorama of the Olympics.