Originally published Saturday, December 13, 1997;
revised Friday, November 5, 1999

By DEBERA CARLTON HARRELL
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

The late-afternoon rain clears in time for a flaming sunset, and people walking through Bellevue's Downtown Park gaze up at the city's skyline. Glassy copper and silver high-rises are reflected in a park pool.

It's a glittering reflection of the new Bellevue, the state's fifth-largest city -- an image in sharp contrast to the open fields, strawberry festivals and old brick schools that once occupied the park site.

Also gone is the long-held perception of Bellevue as a Seattle bedroom community. Thanks in part to its proximity to three major highways (Interstate 90, Interstate 405 and state Route 520), Bellevue has become a regional power with small-town roots.

While such growth saddens many longtime residents and impresses newcomers, most value this "edge city" as the urban heart of the Eastside.

Another perception -- that this is a conservative bastion of conformity, composed mostly of white-flight suburbanites seeking a good-life comfort zone -- is also shifting a little. While 86 percent of Bellevue's 105,000 residents are white and the majority are middle- to upper-middle class, the demographic picture is changing.

Busting the homogenous Bellevue image is an influx of East European, Hispanic and Asian immigrants. Crossroads Shopping Center on Bellevue's eastern edge is increasingly an ethnic mecca. Also on the rise are the number of unmarried young professionals, single moms and families with both parents working.

Bellevue, which decades ago had a reputation for avoiding diversity unless it was an investment strategy, has been credited with responding creatively and humanely to recent demographic changes.

Earlier this year, the city won a National League of Cities award for a wide range of cultural diversity programs -- something that would have been unheard of 15 years ago.

Despite several brutal high-profile murders during the mid-1990s, this city of neighborhoods -- Somerset, Woodridge, Wilburton, Enatai, Lake Hills -- is considered by both residents and law enforcement personnel as a safe place to live.

Dumpster divers and panhandlers do not flock here, although the city and churches are attempting to address needs of low-income residents as well as the homeless. The creation of more affordable housing, including low-income housing and housing for the elderly, are issues the city is trying to tackle with trade-off incentives to developers.