Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Washington > Spokane area
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 01-08-2013, 02:29 AM
 
Location: Apple Valley, CA
2 posts, read 42,907 times
Reputation: 17

Advertisements

Greetings everyone! I'm a "new user" to this site, but I've been lurking the forums for a while.

So here's the deal: my girlfriend and I have been living in Apple Valley/Victorville (Southern California) for nearly our entire lives and... well... to put it short, we despise it. The desert sucks. It's dry ALL the time, the two seasons of the year are always dry, and it's either 90-100 degrees or 30-50 degrees. Yep, only extreme summer with drought conditions, or dry cold winter that makes you hate the world. Very little rain, and snow maybe once every two years or so. It's awful. Not to mention that the scum of LA/Compton is being carted here by the dozen and relocated everywhere, so crime is abundant. I mean, multiple homicides, robberies, kidnappings, etc every day. Most people see it if they go to several places on one shopping trip. It's really sad. No jobs too. My girlfriend has applied to places all over the desert for a year, and nobody has offered her a position, yet how hard of a worker she truly is. >.< I've worked several different jobs, and as a result have managed to hold positions because of connections and experience, but without that, I too would have no place to work.

But, what makes NO sense, despite failing economy, CA's excruciatingly high taxes, and lack of a great environment to live (literally, this place has NO perks besides cool looking sunsets. Most people hate it here), rent, food, gas, etc are VERY expensive, moreso expensive than Spokane. We have done extensive research on Spokane and it's pro's and con's, but we can't seem to shake the place's beauty and allure. We LOVE snow. (yes, we are crazy. But we love warming up in cold environments. It's something we enjoy. ) And not to mention the four distinct seasons DEFINITELY has us hooked. We're used to unpleasant extreme weather and we despise it. (dry dry yuck)

What perplexes me is what so many people are saying about the crime there. I mean, we literally live in the ghetto. You can't take two steps without being harassed by someone asking for gas money, or for you to feed their children, if you're not picky about who you sleep with, etc. It's not great. Robberies happen in broad daylight, clubbed to death with their own things in their own homes, shootings abundant (and at most the schools), etc, etc, etc. Is Spokane anything near this? It sounds beautiful and peaceful, exactly what we're looking for. Nothing complicated, nothing crazy, no Hollywood or anything like that. Just a simple town to live in and start our lives peacefully. We love weather and practically worship outdoor activities (camping, fishing, skiing, snowboarding, etc etc) since we can't do much here. We're young but old fashioned, haha.

And jobwise, I currently work as a tech for Staples, but have also worked for Best Buy, a film restoration shop, and a software company. Staples pays decently well, and not to toot my horn, but I am pretty dang good at selling and fixing computers to the point where within only three months I've received two raises and promoted. I've been wondering if I could transfer out there, but I'm not sure. Are there many jobs for technicians? I have a lot of energy and I am very very good with all types of people, and I am also very good at working on all types of computers. And, this is probably hopeless, but is there any chance of starting a business there? I work on high volumes of computers here and earn staples a LOT of money, and my ability to work with people is pretty unparalleled here in the desert. I think it would be nice to run a small shop that people can rely on to have their machines tuned up by someone honest and who wouldn't snoop their data or try to scam them out of their money by making up problems to charge them with. Trust me, honesty sells and makes a lot more in the long run. (which is how I'm so successful there vs. their traditional sharks on the sales floor)

My girlfriend is looking for a job too, and hopes to find one out there, which, despite what I've heard, seems to be a lot better than what it is down here. And with her persistence and hard working demeanor, I have no doubt in my mind that she'd be successful in anything she does.

So anyone have any feedback? We really want to start over and get out of this horrible place. Spokane seriously sounds like the place we want to live. (and remember, we LIKE simplicity)
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 01-08-2013, 03:20 AM
 
Location: Near Manito
20,170 posts, read 24,244,359 times
Reputation: 15284
I can't advise you on the job aspect, but you can pretty much ignore the crime jazz. Spokane is like anyplace else. You lie down with (or live in an area full of) dogs, you wake up with fleas. Lots of folks on this forum will be glad to steer you away from the bad areas of town. Problem solved.

You mentioned liking snow. But have you ever lived in real cold? Places with really cold winters? Lonnnnng cold winters? Driving on glare ice winters? Winters that start around Halloween and end around Easter? It's one thing to look outside and say "Wow, honey! Look at that purty snow a-fallin'! Did you know that no two snowflakes are alike? Let's go out to the meadow and build a snowman! Why, we can pretend that he is Parson Brown!" etc. It's quite another to wake up in the dark, shovel your way out to your car, scrape the solid ice off the windshield, and find that the damn battery is dead again and that you'll have to either walk to work through knee-high snow covering icy sidewalks, or catch the STA bus and ride downtown surrounded by the kind of people you pay higher rent to avoid.

In my opinion, someone moving from the California desert will need three things to live happily ever after in Spokane:

1. A reliable four-wheel drive vehicle with an engine block heater if you're planning to park it outside.
2. A new wardrobe. Think down coats and silk long underwear. You're gonna need 'em.
3. A sense of humor. This may be the most important thing, because Spokane is either going to make you laugh or make you cry. The choice is yours. I went through the crying stage, then the laughing stage. Now I'm in the mostly grumpy stage, which is logical since I'm an old fart. You want to end up like me? Come to Spokane!!!!!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-08-2013, 04:04 AM
 
Location: Apple Valley, CA
2 posts, read 42,907 times
Reputation: 17
Yeledaf, thank you! That's exactly what I was thinking about it. We all hear about crime every day, and based on reading the forums "two officers shot", home invasions, etc, it seems like it's just the usual crime you see everywhere. Doesn't seem as extreme as it's made to sound. Basically it's like here, we've survived so far by keeping our wits about us and not hanging around in the wrong areas.

I'm adaptable to cold (I would like to think! Haha!) as I currently live on a mountainside and it drops to about 10 up here (brrr), but it IS very dry. (trust me, not good for your nose ) The snow, I must admit, is something that I've never really been too much around. I would need to trade my car for a truck after we move there because my little corolla does not have 4wd. (It would be quite funny to find a little corolla with 4wd! )
Wardrobe: I love wearing long sleeves, so this is not an issue. :P If I can put a printed tee over a long john, I am a happy camper. And I have a LOT of jackets. Probably about 15 or so. :P
HUMOR: Oh. Oh dear. I am afraid we have quite a sense of humor. xD So it seems... :P

Yeah, we are mostly worried about supporting ourselves from here, because we're just fed up with living in a sandbox that likes to put sand in your eyes. (I forgot to mention the desert is ALWAYS intensely windy. 50mph gusts will throw rocks in your eyes. :| )
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-08-2013, 05:49 AM
 
Location: Arvada, CO
13,824 posts, read 29,797,901 times
Reputation: 14418
I've lived on both sides of you OP, grew up south of you in Corona/Riverside, and lived an hour north of you up 395 in also desert Ridgecrest, so I know the HD pretty well -- there's no denying it has problems (everywhere does), but you make it sound worse than it actually is.

I too, was jaded about Southern California, so I left. Spokane is as good a place as any to go to. It has its crime and job problems, but nowhere is perfect. Diligence is key, anywhere.

You could choose from thousands of other places with any, or some of these: better employment rates, less crime, four seasons, better cost-of-living, more simplicity, etc (read: parts of the Midwest or Texas). I do suggest you go out for a visit before making the jump. I've lived in three places since leaving home, and only did not become jaded by one of them (), however, more time there could have easily changed that.

FWD is fine.

Don't let the two inch snow storms you get in Apple Valley fool you, Spokane can get some heavy dumps and cold, you don't know winter until you've stared her straight in the face and said "ENOUGH ALREADY, it's FREAKING COLD ENOUGH ISN'T IT????", while wearing long johns, gloves, a beanie, and all. I still love the cold/snow though, I'll take months of that over 1 day of 110F+ in Ridgecrest.

However, I can't shake the beauty of Spoktown either, and hope to lay my head there once again, either when I die, retire, lose my job, lose my mind, lose my wife & kids, or any or all of the above. (What I'm saying is, it's not exactly the place you move to where you can reasonably hope to strike it rich, it's the place you move to when you have a sound plan {i.e. job transfer, a ton of money to survive on while you're looking for the $10/hr jobs, etc.}

Good luck. I wish I had your opportunity (again).
__________________
Moderator for Los Angeles, The Inland Empire, and the Washington state forums.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-08-2013, 08:16 AM
 
152 posts, read 365,917 times
Reputation: 197
Yeledaf and David both know this area quite well.

I grew up in Las Vegas and lived there for most of my life, 29 years. It has a similar climate to where you are coming from. I also was getting tired of the urban sprawl and feeling like I was not a part of the community that I remembered so clearly. It had changed.

Spokane was a great community and we lived in a "hip" neighborhood and got to know all our neighbors very well. It was a great place to foster relationships and we almost always had something to do. I keenly remember having activities planned for 8 weekends in a row.

There are some caveats to Spokane however. Crime is prevalent, especially property crime. Our neighbors had their vehicle broken into over 6 times in the 4 years we lived there. One time they even took the library books she had checked out and always the change in the cupholders. We are talking about people that have bad drug habits that will do anything to get their next fix, albeit. Most of the violent crime seemed to be the next step up.

Weather. Hmm. I once was like you and thought snow was romantic. It is fine for the first couple of years, and then it really starts to grate against your soul. Albeit, we were there when snowmaggeddon happened, and 9 feet of snow came down in one winter. You get so sick of shoveling the ****. Waking up to clean the wife's car off at 5 AM after a good dump. Going up on the roof to shovel it off so it does not cave in. Yes, I am quite happy watching snow on TV now, if I get the hankering I can on demand that holiday scene on cable.

The biggest thing that really affected us was: lack of sunlight. Coming from Las Vegas, with over 320 days of brilliant sun every year to Spokane's 89 "days" of sunlight was a major shock. I found out I had SAD (seasonal affective disorder). A "day" of sun in Spokane in the winter is typically the 15 minutes you get when the sun starts to set in the evening and it gets below the cloud cover. It is fleeting and wholly inadequate. You will need vitamin D and intense light therapy or you will get more and more depressed. Wake up later and later, go to bed earlier and earlier. Drink copious amounts of coffee. This is where you will start that addiction to just survive.

Of course, you should try it out for yourself for awhile.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-08-2013, 02:38 PM
 
Location: Near Manito
20,170 posts, read 24,244,359 times
Reputation: 15284
Jeez, I forgot about having to shovel the roof! Thanks for the reminder, Esteban!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-08-2013, 03:44 PM
 
152 posts, read 365,917 times
Reputation: 197
LOL, yes we all experienced what might be considered "psychological" trauma from the white excrement. Welcome to the City Data Spokane Forum, a place we use as a support group.

I am positive there is still a cloud of obscenities hanging in the stratosphere over the South Hill, put there by me after watching the plow truck push it all back onto my nicely cleared sidewalks. Muther fers.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-08-2013, 04:08 PM
 
49 posts, read 159,405 times
Reputation: 54
I agree with the others posts...I don't think you are going to know what to do with yourselves in the deep snow weather! If you hate the world when its only 30-50. It gets colder than that up here!! Little Carrollas would possibly get stuck and have a very hard time....I had a toyota paseo years ago and remember when it got buried in snow to the point you wouldnt know it was there unless you already knew it was under there... I had to stop trying to dig it out and waited 3 months til the snow melted and I could get my car back....Now I won't even buy a vehicle unless its a truck with 4 wheel drive. I have a suburaban and a 4 runner. (I live in Coeur d Alene, Id) I have been looking for a job since September...I have a lot of expereince as a preschool teacher I've been applying in Liberty Lake, Spokane, CdA, Post Falls...& still no job Good thing my husband is working and thank goodness for government grants for going to school! I enrolled full time since I still didn't find a job and have time for school work.
Good Luck making the best decision about where to move to for you both!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-09-2013, 01:19 AM
 
Location: Brawndo-Thirst-Mutilator-Nation
22,580 posts, read 24,388,606 times
Reputation: 20221
I have lived mainly in Washington state(all over) and California(San diego County, Camp pendleton)my whole life. I currently live in Spokane.

There are a lot of nice things about this city.....overall people are pretty friendly, old town feel, neat old buildings all over the place, decent cost of living.

BUT.....you really have to accept and adapt to the not-so-good things that this area has if you want to enjoy living here. Washington State in general has really yucky weather for 6-7 months out of the year.....grey...gloomy....cold and YUCKY. I honestly DO NOT like the weather in any part of Washington State better than any place I have lived in California. And NO....I do not like rain...gloom....snow....icy roads.......this state has a LOT of it.

Spokane does have a lot of tweaked out zombies.....driving up the crime rate in this nice little city. There is a lot of meth in this area......it makes people crazy........sometimes they stay up for days on end tweaking. The downtown area has quite a lot of creepy-creeps hanging out...many of them up to no good. Throw in all of the other criminals and you have a pretty high crime rate.....that is life in modern America.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 01-09-2013, 08:01 AM
 
152 posts, read 365,917 times
Reputation: 197
Tickyul, very true.

We had several drug houses in our neighborhood and it was fairly easy to spot them. 8-12 different vehicles coming and going from the places at all times of the day. The distribution/sales operations were bigger than the marijuana grow or meth cooking houses. I know that the closer you got to I90 there were more and more of them as they use that as a main trafficking route in and out of town.

Methheads are the worse offenders. They are constantly amped up and staying up for days on end. They do absolutely crazy things. For example, one morning a tweaker decided to assault her roommate and she ran out of the apartment up the hill on Maple. The other tweakers got into a pickup and chased her, driving the wrong way on a one way up the hill. She banged on our door and I didn't know what was going on so opened the door. She ran into our house and was absolutely frantic. I told her I was calling the police and as soon as I said that, she bolted out of our house and across the street into the apartments across the street. The police came and had to do a standoff ordeal until she came out.

This sort of behavior was not unusual for our area as I slowly learned.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Washington > Spokane area
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top