wanting to move to eugene (Portland, Salem: estate, travel, housing)

[joyinam]

My family and I want to move to Eugene area from the east coast. What advice, do you have? What are the neighborhoods to avoid? The pros and cons of life in Eugene? The diversity? The types of resteraunts Is there a homeschooling community there?

[orygun]

Life in Eugene, well. It used to be the most liberal area there was. That has settled down some as it has become more yuppie. There are TONS of places to eat. Housing prices have gotten very high for the quality that you get. High priced junk I always say. Huge homeschooling community though I had a hard time fitting in with them. I thought they were cliquey. (spelling?) There used to be a place where homeschooled kids could go to take classes. Bethel something it was called I think. We tried it out once. Lots of homeless people and significant population of homeless kids. Panhandlers all over. Pretty big drug issues. Getting to be more crime. Pretty good diversity being a college town. I guess it depends on where you are coming from. I prefer the space and peaceful nature of Montana. But if you are coming from a nasty city on the east coast Eugene might be very good for you.

[MoonShadows]

Is Eugene really that bad?? I was hoping to move to a place that is nice. I want to raise a family and I thought Eugune would be ideal, considering it's right in the middle, there are schools with Asian Studies (my major in school soon), and about 3 1/2 hours from CA.

[jjpop]

I think the Eugene-Springfield metropolitan area has some of the same problems that any metropolitan area with 350,000 people has.

[MoonShadows]

Well Eugene has the school I want to go to, I want to take Asian Studies and I am having trouble finding any school in Oregon, besides Portland that has Asian Studies. I'm trying to find a place that's close to CA this way when my fiance travels for his wrestling he can come home and I can go to school still. I want to raise a family dearly and I really thought Eugene was the best place. Are there perks in Eugene? Whats the ethinicity there? Is it an art-like culture? Are there areas good enough to raise a family? What's the weather and schooling like?

I'm sorry for asking so many questions but before I make the 3 day trip to visit and scope it out I want to narrow down the places I want to look at.

[bobmulk]

I live in Salema and I personally think Eugene-Springfield is a wonderful area. I've been there dozens of times, have family there and do business there frequently. Panhandlers? Show me a metro area of 350K that doesn't have them, the same with drugs, et al. Eugene is a delightful area and becoming more and more delightful. More moneyed people are moving in and they seem to be diluting the "do nothing" attitude that has prevailed from the far left sensibilities that reigned for so long.

[orygun]

I wouldn't say the metro area is 350,000 people. The county may be that many people but many live in rural areas. Eugene is around 150,000 now and maybe Springfield is 70,000? I would move there before many other places in the country and no, it isn't THAT bad. Spokane, WA is WAY worse IMO. The metro there is 400,000 and it shows. There are plenty of things to do with kids so I wouldn't say Don't Move there. For an urban area it isn't too bad. I just like people to know the down side too so they know what to expect.

[jjpop]

Originally Posted by orygun

I wouldn't say the metro area is 350,000 people. The county may be that many people but many live in rural areas. Eugene is around 150,000 now and maybe Springfield is 70,000?

You are right, orygun. I got the 350,000 figure based on th 2000 census figure of 322,959 for the Eugene-Springfield MSA, which is basically all of Lane County. I wasn't aware that the MSA was the entire county. The 2000 census gives a city of Eugene population of 137893 and a city of Springfield population of 52864. So I guess the rest of the county had about 130k people in 2000.

I'll restate: I think the Eugene-Springfield area has some of the same problems that any metropolitan area with about 200,000 people has.