Welcome from Mayor Edward B. Murray

A Warm Seattle Welcome

By Edward B. Murray, Mayor of Seattle

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S MAYOR, I WELCOME YOU TO SEATTLE AND THE GREATER SEATTLE INFOGUIDE!

Seattle is the cultural and economic center of the Pacific Northwest. It’s a world-class metropolis, home to Fortune 500 companies and premier academic institutions, offering the best of urban lifestyle while embracing the rugged outdoors.

Seattle is a city of 650,000 residents with strong civic, cultural and economic relationships abroad. As a major port for trans-Pacific trade, Seattle is home to the fifth largest container port in the United States and the 25th largest in the world. Seattle is home to well-known global brands, including Microsoft, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, Amazon.com, and Starbucks. The University of Washington, located within Seattle, is a premier academic research institution that draws students from around the world.

When Boeing introduced the 707 jet airliner in the late 1950s, it ushered in the jet age and a new economic boom for the city. In 1962, Seattle sponsored the futuristic Century 21 Exposition, leaving a permanent legacy in the world-famous Space Needle and the Seattle Center campus, featuring performance, sports, and entertainment halls, as well as the Pacific Science Center.

Seattle’s location on Puget Sound, surrounded by the Cascade and Olympic mountains, ensures year-round outdoor activities, including skiing, sailing, and hiking. From downtown, you can take a guided sea kayaking tour or go “flight seeing” by floatplane. Day trips via catamaran are available to British Columbia and the popular San Juan Islands. The Port of Seattle offers luxury cruises to Alaska’s Inside Passage. Three national parks lie within a two-hour drive of Seattle. Mt. Rainier National Park features the snow-capped mountain, backdrop to the city’s skyline. Olympic National Park offers the only temperate rain forests in the continental U.S. and the North Cascades National Park offers stunning views of jagged peaks and glacial lakes.

Often recognized as one of the best walking cities in the U.S., Seattle has a compact downtown neighborhood that allows visitors to easily explore the city’s well-known attractions, including Pike Place Market—the oldest continuously operated farmers’ market in the U.S. A walk through the market reveals Seattle’s culinary bounty: wild salmon, crab, fresh produce, strong coffee, craft beers, and a wide selection of internationally acclaimed Washington wines. The city features an array of sophisticated restaurants run by creative and sometimes daring chefs.

GETTING STARTED

Downtown at Night

Bell Harbor Marina on the downtown Seattle Waterfront

Seattle is a leader in its commitment to diversity and equality, and is an inclusive, welcoming community. It prides itself on ensuring that everyone has equal access to jobs, education, and housing regardless of race, ethnic background, sexual orientation, or economic status. It is a city of immigrants; one in five residents were born in another country.

A thriving and vibrant arts and music scene is a large part of Seattle’s character. In the early part of the 20th century, there were dozens of jazz nightclubs in the Chinatown-International District and Central District areas, supporting the early careers of legends Ray Charles and Quincy Jones. Later, Seattle was the birthplace of rocker Jimi Hendrix and home to internationally known musical artists, including Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Macklemore. Seattle features a professional symphony, ballet, opera, and many theatre groups, along with thriving art museums. Five professional sports teams call Seattle home, including the Seattle Seahawks, which recently played in back-to-back National Football League Super Bowls.

Seattle has always exhibited a pioneering spirit, optimism, enterprise, and pride. From its days as a frontier town on the shores of the Pacific to its current status as one of the fastest growing cities in the United States, Seattle is constantly innovating and redefining its identity as one of the world’s most modern cities.

However long your stay, I hope you enjoy all that the Seattle area has to offer! About Mayor Murray

Edward B. Murray became Mayor of Seattle on January 1, 2014 and promptly set the tone for his administration by signing an executive order raising the minimum wage of city government employees to $15 an hour, along with following through on his pledge to raise the minimum wage for all workers in Seattle. Prior to becoming Mayor, Murray served in the Washington state legislature for 18 years, where he was the prime sponsor of the state’s historic marriage equality law in 2012.