Federal Way; Advice Please:) (Tacoma, Auburn: section 8, rent, condo)

[Wawis]

The best school district in S King Co is probably the Kent School District. This does not mean you have to live in Kent. There is much area in unincorporated King Co that is in the KSD. We live about 10 miles east of the Kent Valley. Some explanation may be in place here. South King County is bisected by the Kent Valley which runs from Puyallup through Auburn and Kent to Renton. There is 'West Hill' and 'East Hill'. West Hill, though beautiful with its views of Puget Sound also has Highway 99 which is undesireable. Sea-Tac (with the airport), Burien, Des Moines and Federal Way are on West Hill.
East Hill is, I feel, a more desireable place to live. We are located above Covington, between there and Maple Valley and Black Diamond. There are very many new developements being built in this area. East of Hwy 169 you get into the Cascade foothills and open areas, read forest. There are some small towns out there like Kangley and Selleck but then you get less organized areas and can have shacks next to palatial homes. Covington and much of rural King Co are in the Kent School District. Maple Valley has Tahoma school district which is not as good. Then there is Enumclaw out on the plateau. I don't know what their schools are like.
Then there is the commute problem. To get to Federal Way from Covington, you have Hwy 18 which has recently been widened and is a good route, but leaving the Kent Valley going up West Hill between Auburn and Federal Way can be a bit dicey at times and the intersection with I-5 is terrible. You don't say just where you are to work, but do take into consideration the commute. I-5 is terrible from Canada to Oregon. There are some horrendous crashes in the flat area between Federal Way/Fife and Tacoma and Hwy 16 going to Gig Harbor is a nightmare but should be improving when the new Tacoma Narrows bridge is built. Feel free to email me if you want to discuss this further.

[nwraider]

Here's my .02...

Mentioned this on another thread this morning, but the Fife/Milton area is not that bad at all. We moved first to Fife when we moved up here from SoCal a couple years ago, then bought a nice house in Milton. We go to Federal Way quite a bit for shopping/eating and it's only about a 10-15 minute drive, depending on traffic. Milton is a nice little small town (about 6K people) and Fife is nearly the same. Both places are growing a little, and there are nicer apartments/condos available at probably reasonable prices considering what you can go up to rent-wise. Edgewood is also a nice area, but not too sure about rentals there, and it's somewhat rural, but basically right next door to Milton. Haven't had any complaints about the school system either. My 9 yr old loves it here, and the classes aren't even close to overcrowding like we experienced in SoCal. Check it out, see what you come up with..

[recognize229]

If you have already decided to move to Federal Way the Twin Lakes area is a nice area and not too spendy...But as for schools in Federal Way I was never satisfied with any of them...Good Luck.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by recognize229

If you have already decided to move to Federal Way the Twin Lakes area is a nice area and not too spendy...But as for schools in Federal Way I was never satisfied with any of them...Good Luck.

I don't know. Twin Lakes certainly has some very nice streets, but it depends on where you are exactly. Twin Lakes also hugs up against one of the worst neighborhoods in the city, where a large part of the drug and gang activity is centered. (Basically the few blocks northwest of the Twin Lakes shopping area, between 21st Ave Sw and SW 336th Street.)

Some of the areas bordering NE Tacoma are quite nice, and some are really awful.

The Federal Way elementary schools aren't too bad, especially the younger grades. But the middle schools and high schools are really, really bad.

In all honesty, I couldn't recommend any one area of Federal Way. The whole city has gone downhill over the past 10 years.

[chris]

an interesting FYI (hope I'm not repeating this).

Federal Way just passed an ordinance that requires residents to remove grafitti (at their own cost) within 48 hours of being contacted by the city.

Not sure how that will work out but it might be an indicator of the types of problems they're having to deal with there.

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by chris

Federal Way just passed an ordinance that requires residents to remove grafitti (at their own cost) within 48 hours of being contacted by the city.

Yep. Although it's good to see that they are doing something, it still seems like putting the bulk of the responsibility on the victims and not the criminals.

Originally Posted by chris

Not sure how that will work out but it might be an indicator of the types of problems they're having to deal with there.

Rampant graffiti, rising burglary rates, gangs in the schools. Last summer, assaults at the mall became so bad that mall security couldn't keep up with it. One lady was attacked in broad daylight, and if it hadn't have been for some good Samaritans who stepped in, who knows what might have happened?

[BanteringBear]

I worked around Federal Way for nearly a year. I think your biggest problem is going to be the schools. You can find nice neighborhoods, but there will always be pockets of gangs, drugs, and crime. These undesirables are also within the schools.

My recommendation is Gig Harbor, hands down. You can rent a beautiful house (on a doctors salary), and the schools are better (from what I have heard). The biggest issue will be the bridge traffic, but the new bridge opens soon, and that should (hopefully) alleviate a lot of the pressure.

A close second might be Enumclaw, but it's a farther commute, and I hear the charm is diappearing due to overbuilding, traffic issues, etc. Issaquah is a wonderful area, but is way too far of a commute, IMO.

Honestly, I would hesitate to even take a job in Federal Way/Tacoma for the most obvious reasons stated. If I were your husband, I would concentrate my efforts more towards Issaquah, Bellevue, etc. For schools, the nicer areas are head and shoulders above the rest. Bainbridge, and Mercer Islands come in high, but you pay through the nose to live there. Personally, I can't stand the areas but I won't even get into that. Good luck.

[magrack]

Originally Posted by BanteringBear

....

Honestly, I would hesitate to even take a job in Federal Way/Tacoma ....

Horse hockey.

Nothing wrong with working in either place.

Look at Brown's Point in Tacoma for a nice place to live. If your children are elementary school age the schools are fine or if it worries you that much, put them in private schools.

If your children are older either they've been exposed to "bad things" and know how to deal with it , or put them in private schools.

Gig Harbor is a nice place to live but the commute can be a killer. If Your husband can arrange an off peak schedule it would be better. Near Gig Harbor there are some more rural areas within easy commute of Tacoma. Try Olalla, LakeBay or Fox Island. (I'd choose Fox Island if it were me, and just put up with the commute).

BBear, did you ever live in or work in the South Sound area? Or are you basing your opinions on hearsay.

I'm not trying to be rude, I'm just curious as to what caused you to have such an extreme view of Federal Way or Tacoma.

Granted, neither are perfect, but no place is.

On edit: I see you said that you worked in FW for a year, sorry I missed that, but now I have to ask if something bad happened to you to make you feel the whole place is the pits.

[BanteringBear]

"Honestly, I would hesitate to even take a job in Federal Way/Tacoma ...."

"Horse hockey."

I beg your pardon, but I was speaking for myself. Don't tell me what I would and would not choose.

"Nothing wrong with working in either place."

That's certainly subjective, as is all of this. But, I disagree. Tacoma, in my and many others opinion, is the armpit of the Puget Sound. Terrible crime, drugs, and pollution amongst other things. I have never met one person, and I am from the area, who would choose the south sound as an area to live and work if it weren't for financial reasons. That is my experience. She want to hear all sides Magrack. Back off.

[magrack]

Back off of what?.

My opinion was that your opinion was horse hockey.

And worse, it's an insult to the many thousands of hard working and decent citizens of those areas, and I could no more ignore an inflammatory post such as yours than I could walk past a crime being committed.

If the OP blindly accepted your opinion, it would be criminal, IMO, as it could easily influence that particular family in not accepting that job offer or end up costing money they may not have, in an attempt to live beyond their means because they accepted your "opinion" at face value.

You should accept that strong or extreme opinions such as you hold will elicit strong responses.

Read the post in it's entirety and accept that it was not a personal attack, but rather a strong disagreement with your opinion.

Maybe it was a little more direct than you're used to, but I'm not one to choose to couch things in terms of total PC verbiage, but I'll give it a try.

"Oh please, sir, Mr Bantering Bear, but if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to disagree with your rather strong opinion about living or working in the Federal Way or Tacoma areas."

How's that?

Man up and try to live up to the first half of your nick, "Bantering" as it denotes someone who can see humor.