ALBANY/ CORVALLIS- some serious reasons to consider NOT moving there (Portland: low income, transplants)

[RickMartinez99]

I have lived here for 13 years now and it is far from a perfect place. The demographics have A lot of people from California and Washington have moved here to realize that and then they moved out of Oregon and moved back home to CA or WA.

The obvious- If you do not like rain for sometimes 6-7 months out of the year then I would consider moving somewhere else.

There is also an increasing amount of METH ABUSERS and HOMELESS PROBLEMS here and there are little to no resources for those needing mental health assistance and therefore there are a lot of people who need help, don't get it and end up on the street.

On top of that, residents often joke about the LACK of LAW ENFORCEMENT in the area.

I just want to let people know that Oregon is ok, but there are majorly increasing problems that are happening in the Albany/ Corvalis area.

This is my 2 cents from someone who has lived here for a while as I know there are some Realtors that post here that obviously focus on the positives.

I am planning to move out of state in the near future.

[RickMartinez99]

I am surprised no one has chimed in. Just wanted to make sure those who were considering got some honesty.

[bobmulk]

Maybe because they don't agree with you. I'm completely familiar with the Albany/Corvallis area. For God's sake, you make it sound like South Central Los Angeles. If it's so bad, why is the population still growing?

I think you're wise to move. We don't need people like you around.

[haggardhouseelf]

We love Corvallis... don't know too much about Albany... but Corvallis and Eugene are wonderful.

[mrwumpus]

Outsiders appreciate this sort of honesty. It is very easy for people who seek to relocate to only hear from realtors or chamber of commerce websites, which make any place seem ideal. That leads to a lost of disappointing and costly relocations. That's why these forums are so great.

I also notice that many locals steadfastly refuse to say anything negative about where they live. I suppose that's understandable for reasons of loyalty and pride, but every place has a downside depending on where you come from and what matters most to you.

For instance, the retired survivalist on two fenced acres may consider it a positive thing that his community closed its public libraries and doesn't spend money on an already understaffed police force. But the young couple with children certainly do not. Etc,etc,etc.

[Silverfall]

Originally Posted by mrwumpus

Outsiders appreciate this sort of honesty. It is very easy for people who seek to relocate to only hear from realtors or chamber of commerce websites, which make any place seem ideal. That leads to a lost of disappointing and costly relocations. That's why these forums are so great.

These forums are fantastic, but I think it's more a matter of perspective. Having come from the Chicago area, we don't have BIG problems. When people post on these forums about slums, I think they need to head to LA or Chicago and SEE what a slum really is. We have poor areas, not slums. There is a difference. So for people that are transplants from larger cities, our impressions are skewed from a big city perspective.

[wolfbytez]

I don't know about a lot of other cities in Oregon but I do know that Harrisburg has tap water that you can't drink!!

It's not listed on the city pages or anywhere else but if I had the info before I moved here I would have NEVER moved to this town! The water is so foul tasting and full of chemicals that most of us use bottled water to even wash our fruit & veggies & for our pets. You can't cook with this stuff either, it ruins the taste of your food/coffee.

Sometimes the water is actually brown in color....I have pictures for anyone who is interested.

There is very little current info on the web about this water. I am locked into a 1 year lease and being low income, buying water constantly has become a very real problem for me.

The next town over, Junction City {4 miles} water department website DOES say that no one with a compromised immune system should ever drink the water. I have lupus & MS with kidney & liver damage so even thinking about drinking the water is out of the question for me.

This information SHOULD be included in the City Info pages to help people looking for a place to live in Oregon. I'll take Portland or LA water any day over this nasty stuff and the costs of buying bottled water constantly.

[osp14318583]

Ran across this post and thought I would chime in since the poster was surprised that not many people were replying, a little history on me. I lived in Corvallis from about 1972-1987 when I graduated from Crescent Valley HS. I lived in Houston,TX from 1987-1988, then lived in California from 1988-1996(Stockton,Oakland,Fresno,Inglewood) before moving back to Corvallis in 1996. I currently live in Salem,OR.
My pros on Corvallis are that it is:
-generally a good place to raise a family
-small, college town setting is laid back
-doesn't have REAL problems like some of the places I've lived in, by that I mean, not a lot of murders happen, hardcore gang problems etc anybody living in Corvallis that wants to dispute that, try living in any of the cities I posted.
Cons:
-Yes, its rains a lot in Oregon, period, and yes it sucks. Any Oregonian that says they love the rain etc, is just trying to make a positive out of a negative.
-The problems I didn't like about Corvallis police, is their typical 'small town' cop attitude. Basically stopping people/harrassing people over stupid things, police in other big cities I've lived in don't have time to waste showing off their 'power trip' attitudes cause they are a cop. But since crime is relatively non existant in Corvallis, that isnt surprising.
-Corvallis is stuck in a time warp. It hasn't really changed that much from when I was a kid, to when I returned in 1996. Many people that live there, want it that way, but I don't want to live in a place like that.
-Meth problem. Well, meth is everywhere now, EVERYWHERE. So claiming that homelessness and meth make Corvallis a terrible place to live, doesn't hold much weight wtih me, because you can say that about a lot of cities.

If you are a Californian, like the poster, then chances are, you won't like Corvallis. A few might, but California is like an entirely different world compared to Corvallis.
So, I'm not bashing Corvallis, like I said, it a great laid back college town, that would appeal to most familes, but it if you don't like boring, rainy towns then you shouldn't live there.

[ajpacino]

Originally Posted by wolfbytez

I don't know about a lot of other cities in Oregon but I do know that Harrisburg has tap water that you can't drink!!

It's not listed on the city pages or anywhere else but if I had the info before I moved here I would have NEVER moved to this town! The water is so foul tasting and full of chemicals that most of us use bottled water to even wash our fruit & veggies & for our pets. You can't cook with this stuff either, it ruins the taste of your food/coffee.

Sometimes the water is actually brown in color....I have pictures for anyone who is interested.

There is very little current info on the web about this water. I am locked into a 1 year lease and being low income, buying water constantly has become a very real problem for me.

The next town over, Junction City {4 miles} water department website DOES say that no one with a compromised immune system should ever drink the water. I have lupus & MS with kidney & liver damage so even thinking about drinking the water is out of the question for me.

This information SHOULD be included in the City Info pages to help people looking for a place to live in Oregon. I'll take Portland or LA water any day over this nasty stuff and the costs of buying bottled water constantly.

If watter is your main problem you can buy a very cheap RODI unit will cost you about 4 mo. worth of buying bottled water for you and your dogs.

[Leisesturm]

For even less money than an RO unit wolfbytez can buy a Brita pitcher which makes even NYC water taste heavenly. FWIW I am not impressed with the taste of Hillsboro water and can't wait to get my Brita system unpacked. I just have to observe, while I have the keyboard out, that in general I get what the negative posters are doing: painting their chosen areas of Oregon as places to avoid, thereby keeping the calm and quiet for themselves. Great strategy if you don't overdo it. A tepid response to someone's inquiry will do more to keep Oregon's serenity intact than unsolicited harrangs about this and that and the other thing. More to the point these threads do little to actually stem the tide of growth. People are going to come to Oregon regardless of the rain, regardless of the lack of nightlife, regardless of the lack of 'bonhomie', etc. Why? Because they simply don't care about such nuances. Those who do are actually the kind of people you should want around and you scare them off and leave it open to the desperate and the careless. Counterproductive if you ask me. Live and let live is what I suggest. FWIW.

H