GeekWire conducted an unscientific survey in Central Park to determine if ordinary people associated Seattle with the tech industry. They apparently don't. One person was even surprised to learn Microsoft and Amazon are based here. He thought Seattle is all about coffee. Another person thought Amazon was based in Kansas City, his hometown.

Michael Schutzler, CEO of the Washington Technology Industry Association, places a part of the blame of this sad state of affairs ("a huge branding problem”) on our tech community's lukewarm engagement with local politics and policies. But it also could be that Americans generally know very little about anything that is not spectacular. And Seattle is not spectacular. Silicon Valley and Manhattan are.