What's the deal with Eugene/Springfield? (Portland: middle-class, sales, to rent)

[okeon]

After months of planning and researching we made the move to Eugene/Springfield from WA state. I am already home sick, I have just wanted to give up and go home on numerous occasions. The VERY FIRST night we got into town we had our vehicle broken into, and numerous things stolen. We left the truck unattended for 2 hours and came back out to get the rest of our stuff and it was all gone. We called the police and the REFUSED to take fingerprints, even with a perfect visible print. We have been here about a month and we have seen 2 local news episodes where the police have shot people, the most recent one was the police shot a neighbor who came to help with a home invasion, thinking he was the burgler. Another story was the police killed a man in front of children. Our neighbor told us when we moved in "You can't get the police out here unless someone is dying". It doesn't make us feel very secure that is for sure. Not to mention the guns at schools, there have been 3 cases of kids with guns just in the short time we have been here.

The minimum wage in OR and WA are the highest in the U.S, but it doesn't seem that you can make a good living here, my husband is making less money per hour than WA and housing prices are double here. So we are making less money and paying alot more rent, how do people make it?

[wohelo]

So sorry, to hear of your Eugene mishaps and horriable welcoming. Hey, I lived in Eugene for 12 years and moved to the midwest (long story) but can relate to your frustration and shock. I moved into the Ferry Street Bridge area which is a really nice area and during my first week I watch a SWAT team move in on my neighbors house! The kid inside had murdered his grandmother for drug money. I was sick with fear and sorrow about my move to what I thought was Mayberry type town. Well, I stayed put and watch the neighborhood evolve into a safer area and really loved living there. My recommendation is to hang in there, especially if you purchased a home and give it a chance. If your renting then really evaluate your neighborhood and then Eugene as a town for you. My take on Eugene is that location/hood is really important. I lived near the University when I was a Duck back in the dazes of Pre and other legends and remember chasing down my roomates VW van from being stolen. Caught up with thief and the van on my bike! VW vans were not prone to speed or I am the next Lance Armstrong.
All stories aside.... keep talking to locals find out if Eugene is the right fit. It is okay to do a U turn and return to WA. I hope this helps.

[Boxsixpack]

My friend lives at the gateway area. She is a single hard working mom. She had her car stolen three times in two years. The first two times her car was stolen in the middle of the night in front of her house. How sad is it to wake up in the morning to go to work and find your car gone. she had to call a co-worker to get a ride to work. Deal with calling the pollice and the stress and worry all day at work. she got her car back both times found at different locations.
The third time was her birthday. All of her family lives out of state and some co- workers had a party for her after work at the gateway mall. After having dinner they all wanted to go for a walk at the mall. So she decided to put her birthday gifts in her car (trunk) so she did't have to carry them. Her and her friends had a good Walk then ............ (Car was gone again) and found acouple days latter in Eugene , all her presents gone out of the trunk. I had called her that evening to ask how her birhday party went. She was crying. She said i'm still here at the Gateway mall waiting for the pollice. Her gifts were small things like perfume, warm socks and candles and a few handmade gifts. she sold that older car that was paid off and ran great and went and bought a newer car with anti-Theft alarm system. Single mom now with a car payment.
She went to vist her family out of state, gone about a week. She came home to find her front door open .(no one was there at the time). But a bowl of cereal was on the counter , her bed looked like it had been slept in and someone was even getting her morning news paper bringing it into the house. Creepy isn't even the word for it. I live in a small town ouside of Eugene. I love it. I go to town once in a while to shop and back to the counrty I go. I have tried to talk my friend to moving to my town but she dosn't want to be that far from work .

[Des_Demona]

Yeah I've heard that the theft crime in Eugene is HORRIBLE! When I looked it up on various sources it was just astronomical compared to other cities (even the most dangerous cities in the U.S. like Compton!) What's the deal with car thefts being so high? Is there some kind of criminal market for it? I really want to move to Eugene but car thefts are no small thing... that really sucks for all of you who have been through that. I've had my car broken into once and just my stereo was stolen and I ended up making 900 dollars from insurance so it wasn't a total loss but I really don't want to deal with that again.

[QuintusCinna]

Thank you! Finally people are saying true things! I go to threads in many of the states at city-data and you would think we were all smurfs! Everybody's happy and their city is the greatest ever created. Even Alexander the Great couldn't have done better. I live in this area, and I do admit though there are good points to the city, there's a heck of alot of bad things. The Gateway area is horrendous since it is right next to I-5 and easy to take off as people go watch movies. Please, though I am sorry for your anguish, thank you for sharing people that there are situations that occur in every town and you shouldn't necessarily trust the locals for accurate advice. I would trust reading the newspapers or online news for a good 4 to 6 months. When we first moved here, there were no less than 5 murders in 3 weeks (back in 1995). I nearly freaked out thinking I moved into a war zone. I guess I simply ignore the violence now since I don't notice it as much.

[Kikbaq]

Heres a fun tidbit about Law Enforcement and the Judicial System in Lane County, speciafically Eugene and Springfield.

December 23rd, 2000... My brother and I are driving a friend to collect his car from his ex and her new boyfriend. When we arrive at their house to pick the car up the guy come out with k-bar knife and is cursing at us. Needless to see he wasn't willing to give my friend his car back. As we drove off, this guy through a knife through the back window of my hatchback. Shattered the glass, narrowly missed hitting my brother in the back of the head. This happenned on River Loop 2 off of River Rd.

We pulled into the River Rd. Dari-Mart and called the Eugene Police. Any of you from the area will know that I am talking about the Santa Clara area. This area is highly contested over by Eugene--but not nearly important enough to have EPD send a police unit out to help us.

The EPD operator told us that we needed to call county instead and ended the call. An hour later a Sheriff's Deputy (who was very cool) arrived and took pictures of us and my car. A couple days later, and $350 worth of glass later (which my insurance did not cover) I had my car back in more or less original condition. A week after this the same deputy calls me to inform me that they have caught the guy (who managed to flee the scene in the hour it took to get somebody out there--what a concept) and they have charged him [along with the assault of the ex--which prompted his initial arrest] in my case with Wreckless Endangerment and Criminal Mischief...I was appauled, no assualt w/deadly weapon charge, no menacing, threatening lives in front of a minor...

I was told to contact the Assistant DA at the time (Dave Schwartz) and he indicated I would see some sort of financial restitution from the guilty party.

Here it is 2008 and I havent seen a dime.

Anyway, the real turd in the punchbowl comes in Febrary '01, just around the corner. My car is parked in our driveway, yet closest to the road. At some time around 1am, our neighbor hears a large CRACKing sound and dismisses and goes back to bed.

I go out to the car to go to work in the morning and I see the rear driver's side window shattered and the power wire that led to my Amp and SPeakers sticking out, laying on the ground. I call the police to report it and they send NOBODY...informing me that if the property value of what was damaged or taken was under $1700.00 then they could not pursue it. I then call my insurance company to report it and they once again inform me that I will not be covered for the glass ($169 this time) and because my insurance agent could not find the digital photo disk with my car stereo on file, I got shorted that $ too ($1147.98--yes I had a loud obnoxious stereo, but I paid hard earned money for it) I found the subs and the box they were in at the pawn shop on 14th and Main in Spfld, they would not give them back, they told me to inform the police...the police told me again about the $$$ minimum for response again...

Anyhow, I never call the police for anything now and have a fair share of protective items to keep my place safe. If somebody decides to invade my home they will certainly provoke a police response at the least, perhaps it will make the newspaper also.

[oregonfamily]

Wow...you guys know nothing! take it from someone who has lived in oregon my whole life, it is amazing! lets not listen to someone who has lived here a month! i was born and raised in eugene, i never have and never will live anywhere else. my son goes to a wonderful school, he is so smart and such a happy little boy! my husband and i both have wonderful, great paying jobs here, we have never had our cars broken into or been victoms of any type of crime, we have a very large family who all live in eugene and all of us love it and would never leave! our family holidays consist of 35 close family members, not one of us have ever had a problem with this beautiful place! and here is a question for you..... can you name one city that doesnt have any crime?! sure once in awhile someone will get there car broken into but here is an option for you GET INSURANCE, it will cover anything that happends to your car, or your belongings in thier car! compared to most states, our crime rate is nothig! i had a friend that just got a Promotion and had to move to WA, you know how fast she came back?! 4 and 1/2 weeks! she hated it! so anybody wanting to move to oregon, you would make the best decisoun of you life moving! it is such a wonderful place! sure we have our crapy party of town just like every state, but that is your choice to live there! the thing that makes me know im in the right place, is the fact that i feel comfortable walking at night or early morning alone, i know im safe here, the way i can watch the kids play in the yard and watch them thru the kitchen window while i make dinner, how i know all my neighbors and they are as friendly as can be, how we feel comfortble leaving our bedroom window open at night to get fresh air in, if we forget to lock on of the cars, no prob, everything will be right where we left it in the morning! i love oregon, and somebody that hasnt lived long, cant say anything!

[haggardhouseelf]

We lived in Eugene, OR for three years and the worst thing that ever happened to us was when we tried to go to Ron's Island Grill one night not realizing that they had moved! We were freaking out because we thought they had suddenly closed. We were heartbroken.

The next day we found out that they had moved to a better more wonderful location, right in the same shopping area as one of our favorite grocery stores! So we were happy.

I think as long as you use common sense, and stay out of the sketchy areas, lock your doors, use your garage for your car and not for storage, get decent insurance that has glass and theft coverage, and don't leave anything out in the open... you should be fine.

There are jobs there... You just need to have something other than a HS diploma or liberal arts degree in order to be suitable for them. Otherwise you will be looking at minimum wage. Home Depot and CostCo seem to always be hiring! (I have heard that CostCo pays more than minimum wage and has excellent benefits... just in case you are looking for something!)

Companies in Eugene (and many parts of Oregon) are hiring people from out of state (like my husband) or N. Korea because the native/local population in the Eugene area and most of Oregon (excluding Portland) are simply not skilled/trained/educated for the jobs which need to be filled there. It seemed like everyone I met in Eugene had a liberal Arts degree and had wonderful artsy fartsy skills but no real job skills, experience, or training. I'm not knocking artsy fartsy skills - I'm an artsy fartsy person myself - but if it's a career you want, you gotta learn, train, and work for it. It doesn't just happen overnight.

[MM07]

Another native speaking here. Born, raised and have never lived anywhere other than Eugene. Also from a very large family, I have five siblings. I am also a business owner in Eugene.

I am surprised at the other natives post. You don't have to look far to find a multitute of people that have experienced personal property crimes here. In fact, an employee had hercar stolen from Gateway mall in Dec. The responding officer said her car was the third stolen that day from the mall!

I myself have found one stolen car, and personally had my home broken into. We live in a nice middle-class neighborhood and daytime breakins have certainly been a problem here.

Both my dad and a brother have had items stolen from them. My mother-in-laws home was broken into several years ago. In November I had a big shoplifting event happen. And now I am again working (with the police) on catching a shoplifting ring that visits my business on a weekly basis.

So, personally I have no idea how you live here and not have any clue that there is a huge property crime problem here. Yeah it's beautiful and quiet, they don't run around cheering as they thieve! All you have to do is watch a couple of the drug special the local news stations do a couple times a year to understand why.

Disclaimer - this post is in no way meant to upset anyone. I have just had it with the theft here! It has cost me a LOT of money!

[haggardhouseelf]

What parts of town did these things happen in? It sounds awful. We just found out that we will be moving back to Eugene soon. (YAY! We are very happy! We have missed it so much!) We lived for three years in the northern part of Eugene and like I posted before, we never had any troubles at all with crime. There was even a detox/rehab center right across the street from where we lived (on Applewood near N. Delta). We would see these strung-out guys going hrough detox going on their group walks and also having christmas tree sales and car washes to earn money to support the center... but we never had any problems with crime there. A friend of ours also owned a coffee shop right across the street and she never had anything bad happen at her shop, either.

I'd like to know what parts of town all these bad things happened in... we will be looking for a home to buy (one to rent, first...) and even though we lived in Eugene for three years (and it's not a very big place! ) there are some neighborhoods that may look nice but we might not know has a problem going on...

Now... my husband worked in West Eugene and he and his co-workers have seen things out there... sort of in the Barger and Roosevelt areas. They watched a SWAT team totally raid this house across the street from their office and remove and take away a man from the house... He's also seen many hit and runs in that neighborhood, and they've had stolen and abandoned cars in that neighborhood. The police often ask to use the film footage from the security camera's from my husband's office. But it seems like anyone with common sense going into that neighborhood would sense that it's rough. It just looks rough. Normally we try to ride our bikes or walk to the places we need to go to do our part, you know, but my husband won't even take the bus to work there to save on gas because he'd have to walk a few blocks in that neighborhood, and it's just not worth it!