Researching commute-able locations from Butte Falls (Medford, Ashland: home, established neighborhood, buy)

[xarchy]

Looking at a job in the Butte Falls area, so I'm scoping out the cities within daily and weekend commuting distance.
I would need to find a home base where there is public transportation for my adult (disabled) son while I'm at work.

I'd like to find a place I can eventually buy into that has pockets of cosmopolitan attitudes. Not looking for new upscale vanilla neighborhoods with "good" schools, but established neighborhoods with an attitude of tolerance and acceptance.

We'd be looking for pockets of people who have a live and let live attitude, aren't at the snob/hick ends of the spectrum and who could care less if you are educated or don't go to church.
Our wish list would include having a little bit of art, a little bit of history and style, and a little bit of entertainment. Ethnic groceries and restaurants are nice.

Looking for recommendations about specific neighborhoods or towns.
I'd especially like to hear from persons of color.

[PNW-type-gal]

You'd pretty much be looking at Medford, then, if you want public transportation. Most of the other towns are very small.

[Terryj]

It is a commute from Medford to Butte Falls, in the winter it can be rough to say the least. Medford is the largest town, but its about an hour drive, depending on the weather, from Butte Falls. There are smaller towns closer, Eagle Point or Shady Cove, but these town are much smaller and have no public transportation to speak of.
Looking at your desire in a town the only options would be Medford or Ashland, but again you are looking a commute.

[xarchy]

Folks, I'm well aware of the commute and winter in the mountains. I live at the foot of a 14K foot mountain in a tiny tourism-based town west of Denver that's closer to ski areas than hospitals; I know about driving bad roads in bad weather with bad drivers all around me. What I hate is having to spend an hour driving down to the metro area for every little thing when I'm off work. I never get any time at home. I'd rather have services close to home so the time I take off work can be spent on things we want to do, not things that need to be done, like drive my son to everything. I can always doghouse at my work location or set up a 4 10s schedule to minimize travel.

What I'm asking is does anyone know about specific neighborhoods that might fit my criterion in the region? It could be just a 3x4 street locale that has that open attitude and plenty of character. I'd like to hear from people who've lived there and know where I might find pockets of diversity.
If I took the job, I wouldn't have much time to explore the entire region. I'd need to concentrate my time on scouting out specific neighborhoods so I could approach the realtors/property managers with knowlege of what I want, not what they want. Make sense?