albuquerque versus las vegas (living, place, population, Los Angeles)

[coltoncity]

Hi everyone,
I am going to sell my home around san bernardino in 12 months or so. My daughter and her fiance living in oregon are excited for me to pick a place so we can all be together again in the same area. So I am not only wanting a place with culture and things to do and a dry climate for severe allergies. But a local that is also good for young families.
I do worry about the water issue in california.
I will be staying in the city I choose for at least a couple decades so I will be a senior there. With ability to get help at a military base that is a big thing for me to be able to get to one. I like to be able to have some snow in the winter and warmth in the summer. But my real requirement is liberal, artistic and able to get to a lake/pool and festivals. I also would love to be around a university. If I cannot have some snow to be able to get into a truck and drive there in a day would be great :-) a job would be in customer service but I have another income so its not a particular concern.
Oh yes and very dog friendly! House prices around 250 to 325 thousand but of course less is nice. With room.for gramdkids of course! And a pool.
For my kids they would like to go to school, have less prejudice then they have found in oregon (they are mexican), and a place they can raise kids with fun things to do. Also to be able to have plentiful jobs and affordable living.
Any help would be greatly appreciated and I am looking forward to your input. Thank you!

[zumaboy]

Albuquerque meets many of your criteria, but it does have a mean streak. You can Google some of the recent events with their police department to see what I mean. I moved from northern NM (just north of Santa Fe) to Vegas last fall for work reasons, not expecting to like it very much, but it's actually a pretty good place to live.

[2sleepy]

Originally Posted by coltoncity

Hi everyone,
I am going to sell my home around san bernardino in 12 months or so. My daughter and her fiance living in oregon are excited for me to pick a place so we can all be together again in the same area. So I am not only wanting a place with culture and things to do and a dry climate for severe allergies. But a local that is also good for young families.
I do worry about the water issue in california.
I will be staying in the city I choose for at least a couple decades so I will be a senior there. With ability to get help at a military base that is a big thing for me to be able to get to one. I like to be able to have some snow in the winter and warmth in the summer. But my real requirement is liberal, artistic and able to get to a lake/pool and festivals. I also would love to be around a university. If I cannot have some snow to be able to get into a truck and drive there in a day would be great :-) a job would be in customer service but I have another income so its not a particular concern.
Oh yes and very dog friendly! House prices around 250 to 325 thousand but of course less is nice. With room.for gramdkids of course! And a pool.
For my kids they would like to go to school, have less prejudice then they have found in oregon (they are mexican), and a place they can raise kids with fun things to do. Also to be able to have plentiful jobs and affordable living.
Any help would be greatly appreciated and I am looking forward to your input. Thank you!

Nevada has a drought too so if that is a concern you would do well to consider Oregon or Washington. The weather in Reno is very similar to Albuquerque, and it's a safer area than ABQ, but Washoe County is not dog friendly (really crazy barking dog ordinance) and while some neighborhoods are 'liberal' for the most part it is not a very progressive place and a large percentage of the population is disengaged from politics or apathetic. To me Las Vegas feels like Los Angeles with Casinos.

I understand that some areas of Oregon might exhibit some prejudice toward Mexican people (i.e. Roseburg), but I can't even imagine that occurring in Eugene or Portland. My suggestion to you would be to take a good hard look at Eugene, it's liberal, has a great university nice weather and you are within reasonable driving distance to Portland, or even Ashland. If my kids didn't live in California I would move there.