Eugene/Springfield - The Bad News (Florence: low income, best cities, transplants)

[The Dish]

I so appreciate hearing the good, the bad and what seems to be the ugly.

We are coming to Oregon in September to check it out for ourselves.

I live in Orange County, Southern California (might as well slit my wrists now, right? ) and it occured to me last night that I could make OC sound like the WORST place to live and I could make it sound like the BEST place to live.

It's all perspective, imho.

Thanks again!

[pw72]

Originally Posted by woodriverblue

Okay, you asked....I moved to Eugene from Seattle 14 years ago. That would be 13 years 364 days too darn long. I'm relocating back to Washington this summer - can hardly wait! Many people who come to Eugene from otherwhere discover to their dismay that Eugene is pretty bad - details to follow - only the economy here is so dire that once here it is tough to make/save enough money to get back OUT again. I've had it described as a vortex, and that's not far off. First - weather - summers are glorious if you can stand heat indexes in August and September that rival Atlanta's (e.g., you will need prescription strength antiperspirants and a good drycleaners). There is A LOT of street crime, homelessness - Lane County has not figured out how to deal with the homeless problem and these people, mostly mental misfits of one type or other, are in horrible straits from the municipalities' failure to help them and the local churches can do only so much. Many "affordable" neighborhoods - well, first you'd have to question the term "affodable" and then look at what they are built on - in Bethel-Danebo for example there is groundwater contamination and soil contamination from previous decades of industrial development. The very air here is BAD - check the statistics on LRAPA (air pollution agency). Cars are not "smogged" here which means NOX, CO2, carbon monoxide, and particulates. Mills within city limits are somewhat controlled but factually most mills are outside city limits, and the particulate matter and ozone contamination rival Los Angeles. Temperature inversions here are frequent both summer and winter and if you have any inclination toward lung problems you will be guaranteed visits to the local hospital when the fifth...or eighth....or tenth day of freezing fog in december has trapped the filthy air right at breath level. The police here profile for race and the Eugene Police Department and Lane County Sheriff Department are well known for corruption and ignoring the more abusive types of police behavior (for example, please google the Juan Lara case--'ats what I'm talkin' about). It is very, very difficult to get a job here and when you do, you will not be paid anything close to (a) what you were making where you came from or (b) what you are worth. For example, I was making MORE THAN DOUBLE in Seattle in 1992 (15 years ago) than I am today in Eugene. True - we are just beginning to have traffic problems as far as congestion and there are some infamous albeit short corridors where you sit...and sit....and sit....and oh by the way the highest percentage of accidents are caused by substance-abusing drivers (Oregon being the meth capital of the US and Lane and Douglas Counties being the highest in Oregon). Plus here there is a strong, unshakeable belief in the right to (a) engage fully in road rage, (b) tailgate in the slow lane just for fun, (c) travel at speeds exceeding 85 if you're a triple hauler truck or oil tanker, (d) never, ever use turn signals, (e) run merging cars off the freeway at entrances just for giggles and grins. I could go on but no doubt you get my point. Now - do you have dogs? Do you have a horse or two? Well - prepare to shell out enormous dollars to have your pet treated by a vet. Oregon State University vet school has one of the highest tuition/fee structures in the country and Oregon thinks very pooly of higher education and has a decades long disinvestment in same, so vets coming out of OSU are over a hundred grand in debt for student loans so they charge pet owners accordingly. If you have a horse, be advised that according to their stated policy, the two main clinics in this area REFUSE to treat laminitis or founder and will ONLY euthanize the horse - if you have a laminitic horse or - perish the thought - a foundered one, you'd better be prepared to import your vet from somewhere else. Keep in mind - even the first people here, the native Americans, called this the Valley of Death. The chamber of commerce tries to spin that and admits to only "valley of sickness." Well - either way - if you were physically healthy before you won't be once you live here - the area has more than quintuple the number of asthma and allergy cases of almost any area of the country. And the local grass seed farmers (Lane, Linn and Benton counties are the world's larges producer of grass seed) still engage in the barbaric practice of field burning in August and September, guaranteed to fill the local emergency rooms; a newscast in 1999 detailed how during one 24-hour period at Sacred Heart the emergency room overflowed into the parking lot and they ran out of oxygen there were so many desperate patients! Well, I know that some forum posters will react with anger at me for spilling the ugly beans about Eugene and say "good riddance" moving back to Washington. But there are some very, very serious problems here that cut across all areas - financial, employment, taxes, political, health, neighborhoods and services. Please think very, very carefully before moving here, I can pretty well guarantee you will regret it. If you do move here be SURE to keep enough money in the bank to fund a move away - or you truly will be in "the vortex."

Other than all that, it is beautiful and livable and the people are nice. Somebody having a bad day?

[MajorHart]

Originally Posted by Clear2land

Hi Des:

Although never having lived there, I have always liked Eugene. The only reason I don’t live there is because the Willamette Valley is flat and wet. I prefer to live around the mountains. The second thing I don’t like is the weather. The Willamette Valley gets more than its fair share of rain. I still have webfeet today because of all the rain. Don’t get me wrong, I am proud of my webfeet. They don’t call them Oregon Ducks for nothing. Des, there are pluses and minuses everywhere you go. Just about everything in life is a trade off. The people who live in Eugene are willing to put up with the rain in order to be an hour away from just about anything you want to do. Eugene is the heart of Oregon. It is not by accident that it is Oregon’s second largest city. The people who live there are perfectly happy and so will you once you become a Duck fan.

Dan

but I'm a sooner fan and I'm not mad at Oregon. <G>

[MajorHart]

Originally Posted by tiffela74

well, i like it cuz its got a couple great malls, and several starbucks, plus my all time fav. resturant (applebys) but i DONT like it cuz I get thoughorly lost each and everytime I go there. Not to mention, now that Im getting older (32) I dont like all the skinny little college girls in their sports bras and spandex shorts that are everywhere there. cuz im fat and old now, and i dont want to be reminded of what i once was. lol - I dont like it cuz its the home of the Ducks and Im a Beaver fanatic, but if its gonna come down to the Ducks or some outta staters, GO DUCKS lol. I dont like it cuz you cant get fresh crab there, thats why i live at the beach. But mostly, i dont like it cuz it confuses me. One minute Im on the freeway, then the beltline, then a highway, then the beltline, then the freeway aaaaaaaawwwwwwwwww!!!!!!! last time i got lost there, just trying to turn the heck around, it took me almost 45 minutes to get turned back the right way. yipes!!
Tiffany

I'm a lot older than that and skinny little college girls are fine. But from what I read and having lived in Medford - they will also need an umbrella. <G>

[buzzkirk]

If you check the American Lung Association web site you'll see that Eugene/Springfield ranks fifth on the agency's list of Metropolitan Areas Most Polluted by Short-term Particle Pollution. What woodriverblue said about air pollution in the area is very true. Essentially, the air is polluted whenever it's not raining, which washes the pollution out temporarily. Eugene is at the end of the Willamette Valley so it's trapped on three sides by hills, which holds in the pollution, and fog. With so many people moving there, auto pollution is very bad. There are also some smokestack industries and a big trainyard that bellows diesel exhaust that makes up the mix. And oh yes, wood smoke from home fireplaces is a major source of particulate matter in the six-month rainy/cold season.

If you're like most Americans and don't do much more outdoors than get in and out of your car, you probably won't notice it much most days, but if you are active and like to do things from your backdoor, like run or ride a bicycle, it is a problem. Although right now I'm back in Eugene for the holidays, I feel that as a runner and cyclist, I did myself a favor by moving away. The area has a lot to offer in some aspects, but the scales tip negatively for me due to the bad air, and to the outrageously priced housing market. Frankly, I never had any problems with crime in Eugene having lived on the far edge of town, but people I know who lived in the downtown area, especially the Whitaker neighborhood, had a lot of theft and vandalism to contend with.

[little peg]

Originally Posted by Waterlily

A lot of places in town get a lot of traffic. Anywhere near the Gateway mall and you may be stuck in your traffic lane and not able to get out of it. I know we had to go by where we wanted to turn because of the traffic jam.
Going out on highway 126 towards west Eugene also gets crowded. If you are used to a large city this may not be new for you.

I just wanted you to know that they do have a lot of traffic in town. However there's lots of places for shoping.

I have seen on the news that there's a park in Eugene that has lots of homeless people but it looked like all homeless guys. I'd look around if I were living there before going into a park. It's just good to be careful.

Waterlily, that would be the resident hippies that congregate in the area, harmless except for the contact high you get standing near them. LOL, also I lived right across from where they built the gateway mall, hubby and i are both u ofo grads, funny to see the post about the traffic, we were so poor all we had were bikes, great bike paths that I remember.

[nomore07]

Thanks for a thorough and honest description. I was considering OR but was concerned about the same topics you covered.

[nomore07]

Originally Posted by pw72

Other than all that, it is beautiful and livable and the people are nice. Somebody having a bad day?

Hey at least the guy is being honest. There are too many posts that just go on about mountains and views. As for people being nice, that really depends on one's definition.

[bobmulk]

You've got to take things in perspective. Traffic? I defy you to point out to me any desirable place that doesn't have bad traffic. Air quality? Thousands of people don't seem to have a problem when they're out running every day. Eugene is also considered the track and field capital of the nation. That wouldn't happen if the air were that bad.

Economy? Again that's perspective. There are jobs in Eugene and comparing the city to Seattle is plain ludicrous.

It's important for any of you considering a move to read intently when scanning a message. Attitudes come through loud and clear and if someone doesn't like a place for whatever reason, then everything is going to suck and their entire attitude will be tainted. This makes for a skewed opinion which means you really can't take their comments seriously. It's best to listen to someone who tells you the good and bad in a mature, non-attitudinal manner.

Good luck and welcome to Oregon if you move here.

[haggardhouseelf]

I was trying to think of something negative about Eugene... think... think... think... I was having trouble... we were so happy there... and then I read Woodriverblue's response and suddenly I was reminded of something which did make me feel - at times - uncomfortable while we lived there.

Before I go any further - "We" means my 36 year old husband, our two elementary-aged children, and myself - I'm 32. "We" lived in Eugene for a little over three years - from 2003 - 2007.

OK. So.... what in the world could have made us feel uncomfortable in our wonderful little beloved shangri-lai? Well... sometimes...the people.

My husband and kids and I all absolutely love Eugene and Oregon and hope we can move back someday. (Soon!) We left Eugene a few months ago (for husbands job) and are currently living in Washington state (Seattle area) and we are not happy at all here. Miserable, really. Ugh!!! We are mad at ourselves for ever moving away. Expensive mistake. We miss Oregon and Eugene so much... (you don't know how good you've got it, until you don't have it anymore...)

I'm rambling... sorry...

One thing, however, that I just realized (thank you woodriverblue) we do not miss are the kinds of people who tend to get all worked up over things and protest this and protest that and ***** and complain and grumble and gripe and sometimes get in your face when you're simply trying to shop the farmer's market or walk to work or read quietly in some wonderful cafe or book store somewhere or whatever...

Again I ramble. What I mean, is, if you're thinking of moving to Eugene... you need to be aware that there are a lot of people - a lot - there who have very strong feelings about things and tend to want to make a big deal about these things they have chosen to have very strong feelings about and yet when it comes right down to it - they seem to actually do very little besides make noise and pretty artsy craftsy things. I love the artsy craftsy things! I love Eugene!! But the noise bothered me.

Don't get me wrong... I'm an advocate for positive change and if there's something run amuck in a bad way I feel people need to rise up and face it. I just feel that if you want things to change there are appropriate channels... there's no need to create chaos and interrupt a family's quiet day at the park. There's no point in going off on some stranger standing in front of you at the natural foods co-op. Just because she smiled at you in a polite, friendly way doesn't mean she wants to know where you stand politically.

Also, if you do not agree with them, you might either come under attack (verbal) or you might just be snubbed.

I'm a Texan. I'm not conservative by any means. I'm way liberal, actually, or I thought I was until we lived in Eugene. Now I realize I'm a conservative liberal. And I'm still trying to wrap my mind around that.

However... if you choose the right neighborhood to live in (the various areas of the town each have their own distinct personalities... being boring normal white people who drove a Volvo and bathed our kids regularly and don't have any piercings or tattoo's - and who are not native "Orygonians" - we felt comfortable in the northern area of town! ) and then when you do venture out of your chosen neighborhood you are careful not to get into any discussions which might be considered hot topics... you should be fine.

We absolutely love Eugene, though. It's got it's problems just like everyplace. Yes...yes... they burn the grass sometimes and at times the air is bad... there are lots of scary bums... there is a lot of property crime... I mean... but lock your doors people... That's what they don't note... is that a lot of the property crime happens because people don't lock their doors and they leave windows open. They are asking for it... Don't make yourself an easy target. Be smart.

We've lived in 4 different states as a family and Oregon, we now know, is our shangri-lai. And one thing I can say about these idealist type people who tend to take things to the extreme - it's never boring.