Crime and being seniors

[Stella Dallas000]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

Here's the deal -- (I don't live in Eugene anymore, and I'm not a senior, but I still have plenty of friends and family there) -- it mostly seems to be petty crimes of opportunity. Definitely keep stuff locked and otherwise minimize temptation and you should be fine in most parts of town. Unfortunately, porch pirating is fairly common from what I hear, so you might want to get a P.O. box if you plan to shop via Amazon Prime or other online retailer very often.

If you have a dog, particularly a smaller one that's a desirable breed, take precautions. Don't leave it in the car or in the yard alone. Thieves are stealing dogs and putting them up on Craigslist.

Guess who a lot of the thieves are? University of Oregon students.Also, since we have all these homeless here, you can't leave bikes out anywhere, the homeless steal them all.I myself have a legal pistol at home,so i'm not being passive about the burglaries that go on.(Plus,if you live on any land at all,homeless will try to camp out on your property; do not let em,they can later claim that property part for their own.its the law.).

I regularly get some guys deciding to burglarize me late at nightusually they leave if they see me.The people who lived here a long time say"Get a big dog that dislikes strangers,or get a floor safe for all money and securities.--and keep a legal firearm at home." You barely need any license for home defense. A lot of people who go out camping tell me they take a handgun with them.(??)(I never go camping.)So i asked some lady,"You need a gun protection out camping?" she says, yes, thieves prey on campers' trailers,cars, ect.

Oregon has inherited crime and thieves coming in with the Californians--Actually, my region on River Road used to be worse,now its better.I have nice new neighbors next door,who have two dogs patrol fenced in the yard,to alert them to any nocturnal thievery.--that's fine with me.Yes,porch poaching does go on.DRUGS are a lot of the problem,and,yes,we got a big homeless population with a county and city govt. that will try to tax you to death.--we recommend "vote no on everything,"or you can't afford to live here.Rentals are astronomical.Its just California with a cloudy overcast, now!!......

[theexbrit]

Originally Posted by AndyPanda

I see there hasn't been any more responses for a month now, but I'd like to add my two cents. I am a 59 year old married woman and I have lived in Cottage Grove from 1998 to 2004 and then Springfield from 2004 until now. Cottage Grove is most likely more affordable than either Eugene or Springfield, but like most things, you get what you pay for.

CG has a Walmart and many small businesses. The economy is not exactly hopping there. Drug use is rampant, but that can be said about most cities in America, frankly. It's just that some cities are better at hiding their seedier sides. We had an auto repair shop and had a car stolen right in front of us, as my husband was moving the car from one side of the lot to the other. A guy jumped in it and just took off. Talk about brazen! It was found in the woods a few days later. Police never caught the guy.

There are a lot of very visible mentally ill people roaming the streets in CG, talking to themselves or standing on the corner, singing opera. I'm not kidding. I used to call him 'opera man'. At least he seemed happy and harmless, but CG is absolutely full of them. Why? I don't know. There is an auto race track in CG that runs every Saturday night, if I recall. It's very noisy. If you live near that racetrack, every Saturday will be ruined, I promise.

That said, CG is a really cute town with a historic downtown, covered bridges, surrounded by hills and rivers. Even though I lived close to downtown, I still had deer running through my yard. Unfortunately, the nice things about CG were totally overshadowed by the cretins that lived on all sides of me. I found out too late after purchasing my vintage home, that I was surrounded by rentals. Every house had renters, and they were the worst possible neighbors you could imagine. Noisy, dirty and dealing drugs, on three sides of me, and chickens in backyards that stunk to high heaven.

This is the thing you have to be aware of. The cute, old, historic neighborhoods of vintage Craftsman style homes are mostly rentals. If you are thinking about moving into an 80 year old neighborhood for the ambiance, big trees, Victorian homes, remember that these neighborhoods are filled with rentals. And rentals are filled with cretins. Not meaning to offend people who rent, but that has been my experience. You definitely want to be in a neighborhood of owner-occupied homes. You will avoid a lot of problems and heartaches that way. And this applies to all cities, not just Cottage Grove. The old downtowns are full of rentals.

I'm in Springfield now and I would never move back to Cottage Grove for all the tea in China.

So let's talk about Springfield and Eugene. When I moved to Springfield, it was considered somewhat undesirable compared to Eugene. Eugene was where all the good business were, the activities, the nicer stuff. Springfield was just grubby by comparison. Downtown Springfield was a horror show. Nothing but bars and strip joints. Drunks, druggies and prostitutes roamed the sidewalks. It was a place to drive through quickly with your windows rolled up. But----things change. Thank God, things change.

The city leaders of Springfield have gone above and beyond to do everything legally at their disposal to force out all the bars, taverns, adult "clubs" etc and clean up downtown, and they have done a marvelous job. None of those nuisance business are there anymore, and business startups took notice. Now there are loads of restaurants, a farmers market, a private school, a very nice live theater, shops, bakeries. There is a big new library, a new beautiful JAIL to lock up all the miscreants that Eugene can't manage to keep incarcerated. The city also managed to lure the region's biggest hospital, Peace Health, to Springfield from it's former home in Eugene. Now Springfield has both of this area's hospitals, the other being McKenzie-Willamette, and that is a plus for the residents and the tax base.

The city passed an ordinance to stop panhandling and it has greatly reduced the sight of scruffy people holding up signs that used to be a fixture on literally every corner. I hardly ever see them now. They are opening up all kinds of new parks and recreation facilities everywhere. The senior center, "Willamalane Adult Activity Center" is one of the best senior (over 50) centers in the country, I'm not kidding. It's a great place to learn new things, meet people and make friends.

I only go into Eugene rarely, maybe six times a year. I have noticed a real drop in the quality of life there, in my opinion. The crazies, the homeless, the druggies, the criminals, the traffic, it just seems to be getting worse and Eugene looks to me like it's on a downward swing.

In my opinion, you do not need to be unduly fearful of crime in either Springfield or Eugene any more than you would in any populated area. But I must admit, we have had some very strange violent crimes in this region lately that we have not seen much of before. I don't know what is going on, be it drugs, the political climate, or maybe Jesus is about to return, who knows? We have had some strange crimes around here lately. So you must keep your wits about you and your things locked up. If you do that you will be fine. I have never been a victim of any crime here other than the aforementioned auto theft at our business in CG.

The thing is, buy in a good neighborhood. You will know a good neighborhood when you see it. Those unkempt lawns they were talking about earlier in this thread? Probably rentals. Stay away. There are lots of nice neighborhoods where you won't have any problems. But if you go outside city limits, I'm not sure what kind or police or fire protection you'll have. It's best to stay inside the city, even though the taxes are higher. When you are home shopping, go to the police department and talk to them. They'll fill you in on the places to avoid. And if you see a home you want to make an offer on, first talk to the neighbors. Ask about crime, noise, and any other nuisances in the area.

Which brings me to taxes. EEEE Gads, they are high. Way higher than California. But if you are over 65, you can stop paying your property taxes if you are in need. They will collect your back taxes when you go to sell or pass away. I think that law is still on the books, but I'm not absolutely sure.

The other things to consider before moving here is 1. the weather and 2. allergies. Pollen is bad here. Lots of sniffly, itchy people suffering from asthma. Really common. I'm not having any problems, though. Nothing an antihistamine can't fix.

Overall, I like it here and I'm satisfied that in my income level, I'm not going to find utopia, and this place is actually pretty good. I could do a lot worse. Money is what insulates you from all the $hit in the world, but if you have a limited budget, you just take what you get. It's not bad here. It's quite nice in a lot of ways. I'm near the ocean, I'm near the mountians. I can't think of a place that's better, given my income.

Well, good luck on your search!

Great post! My wife & I are looking at the Eugene area, maybe Springfield, CG, Creswell, Veneta, etc, so your post seemed very honest & informative. We currently reside just south of where you used to live in Anaheim & can't wait to leave, the crowds, the daily road rage, traffic, horrible attitudes people have, etc, have all combined to make South Orange County a not very nice place to live. I grew up in a small town in the south of England, we were about 10 miles from a big city but had countryside & fields on 3 sides of the town, so a "suburb" of somewhere such as Eugene really appeals to me. We live in a VERY low crime area but I still lock doors & don't leave things laying around, why put temptation out there? I will be taking a trip up to the area in the spring of 2020 & will definitely stop by the senior center in Springfield.

[PJUser]

Thank you for all the information from all the posters. I am considering retiring to that area too but the prices have gone up, and Eugene seems to be dealing with the same problems we have here, with the homeless breaking in cars, etc. Has Oregon decriminalized drug use and thievery like California did? I think that's causing the mess here.


Loved your area there. I sure will visit again if I don't move.