Spokane - how conservative is conservative? (Seattle, South Hill: housing, condos, rental)

[2lizards]

Hi all,

I live in Knoxville, TN, but I'll soon be finishing my degree at UT, and my wife and I are considering Spokane, partly because there are several jobs in my field that are coming available just after I graduate. I have a few questions that might help us determine if Spokane would be a decent fit for us.

1) How conservative is conservative? I see a lot of people referring to Spokane as conservative, usually comparing it to Seattle. I know that Seattle has a reputation for being liberal, so maybe it's a comparison thing. In Knoxville, at least 65% of the people are conservative Republicans, and many of them are also very fundamentalist in their religious views. Perhaps Spokane wouldn't seem conservative to someone who has lived out here. It's important that we find a place more liberal than Knoxville. It doesn't have to be dominated by liberals, but a better balance would be very welcome. (p.s. I've considered Portland, Oregon before, but it looks way too pricey for a neighborhood close enough in to actually enjoy the place!). I'll just say that my wife and I are tree hugging, peaceniks who are pretty far to the left of most people I've met in Knoxville (or in the US, outside of a few places like San Francisco or Boston).

2) Are there any affordable, walkable neighborhoods near downtown? By affordable, I mean in the $100K to 200K range. I will be a librarian, and my wife is a teacher. We cannot afford $500,000 homes, unfortunately. We'd love to be somewhere where we could walk to parks, shops, pubs, restaurants, cafes, etc., or at least be on a bus line to an area like that. How dependent on cars is Spokane, in general? Knoxville is a nightmare - cars are more important than people out here, and the traffic is nauseating for a city this size (about the same population as Spokane).

3) What kinds of outdoor recreation are available? I imagine this will be strength, given the proximity to those beautiful western mountains. We love camping, hiking, whitewater rafting, biking, etc. We also love growing our own food, and we want to do more of that - this may be an issue if the affordable houses don't have much by way of yard space.

4) How expensive is air travel in Spokane? Knoxville has one of the most expensive airports in the country (I think it's in the top five) in terms of average air fare. My wife and I love to travel, and her family is in England, so we need to have access to a decent airport.

5) If anyone knows about the situation with adoption agencies, that would also be great info for us.

Thanks, all, for any help you can give.

[fy10fyr]

I consider Spokane to be fairly moderate, which is conservative compared with Seattle. Of course, everyplace outside of SF is conservative, compared to Seattle.

Democrats hold 5 of the 6 seats in the Legislative districts that make up the bulk of the city, so that tells you something. Also, if memory serves, statewide and national candidates that were D's have done well in the urban areas in the last few elections.

[2lizards]

Thanks, fy10fyr!

I thought that might be the case. For one thing, the community colleges actually have a "green building" program. They barely know what the phrase means here in the Knoxville area. That, in itself, suggested that there might be a little more of a non-conservative presence in the Spokane area. I'm not expecting SF or Seattle, but, if I'm going to move across the country, I don't want to end up in a place that's just as conservative as the one I'm leaving!

[seattlerain]

In addition to what the previous poster said, I'd like to add that I think you will find a difference between an eastern conservative and a western conservative.

From my experience there is a more of a "live and let live" attitude in the west.

[2lizards]

I agree, seattlerain. My wife and I traveled out to Texas (which, obviously, isn't as far west as you), and the place seemed to be more laid back. There was a more of a mix of different people than in Tennessee, where people tend to stay with their "own kind," especially in matters of religion. People here are friendly, but it's only to a point. They're not really that understanding of those who do not live or think like they do.

[sylvanarrow]

Hello,

I moved from Seattle to Spokane about a year ago, mostly for the affordable housing and the easy access to outdoors activities, so I'll answer what I can here.

1. I'm a peace-loving tree-hugging atheist and I haven't been tarred and feathered yet. :P Yes, it's more conservative than Seattle, but I found the South a lot more so when I was stationed down there. Perhaps it was just my experience, but they seemed more into... recruiting down there (when it came to churches and politics). I think it's more laid back here. You can find a crowd that you fit into.

Spokane is putting some effort into "greening" the city, too, though I still consider it pretty far behind compared to Portland and Seattle.

I do run into quite a few people who hunt, which may sqwik ya a bit if you're a deer-hugger as well as a tree-hugger, but I have a vizsla (bird dog breed) and I'm always out with him at the parks, so I may tend to meet more hunters than you would in your day-to-day life.

2. Definitely! Spokane has really just started revamping the downtown area in the last few years, and while you can find the high-priced luxury condos and lofts right in downtown, there's a lot of stuff within a five-ten minute drive that is very affordable. Also, you've got a lot of turn-of-the-century Craftsman/Victorian houses that can be absolutely gorgeous when they're fixed up. A lot of the neighborhoods are kind of transitional though so you'd want to check on crime and what not and see if it's tolerable for you. The Garland or Perry Districts are both close in, relatively safe, and you can definitely find a nice selection of houses in the $150,000-$200,000 range. They both have commercial areas with some historical charm too (no big-box marts :P). It is still possible to find houses for $100,000 in Spokane, but you may end up on a street with a lot of rentals. You could also check out Browne's Addition, which is right at the west end of downtown, and close enough you could walk to a lot of things. It's a neat neighborhood with some of those old huge $500,000+ houses on the same blocks as smaller (more affordable) houses and little condo and apartment complexes.

metro(spokane) is a neat blog that follows what's going on in the city development-wise

Regarding cars, I don't see many people biking to work, but then I live on the South Hill, and that'd be a tough workout coming home, heh. The Centennial Trail is pretty awesome though, so if you lived near the river, commuting to work on a bike would be a snap (although, unlike Seattle and Portland, you ain't doing it all year around here).

Compared to Seattle, freeway traffic is awesome. The South Hill is good, traffic-wise too. Anything up north is kind of a ***** (read: bigtime suburban sprawl). They're supposed to build a north-south freeway that bypasses Division/Hwy 2, but completion is something like ten years out and they're still struggling with funding.

3) It's completely awesome here, as far as outdoor recreation goes. This is really why I've fallen for the area and probably won't go back to Seattle. (Seattle has plenty of outdoor recreation but danged if you don't have to drive forever and sit in traffic to get to it--and when you get there... everyone else is there too). Here we've got 4 downhill ski areas within an hour and a half (lift lines are rare), and Schweitzer (more of a resort) is about 2 hours out. There are groomed trails for cross-country skiing, and you can snowshoe at the local parks and golf courses in the winter if you don't feel like heading out to the mountains. I don't snowmobile but there are tons of places for it. Ice fishing and other winter sports too.

Spring and Summer -- Hiking, check. Camping, check. Biking, oh yeah. The Centennial Trail I mentioned is 37 miles or so and runs from Riverside State Park (a huge park bordering the western side of north Spokane) through Spokane and Spokane Valley following the river, across the state border and to Coeur d'Alene. The completely awesome and extremely uncrowded Trail of the Coeur d'Alenes is about an hour away and runs 70+ miles from Plummer to Mullan in Idaho. It doesn't go through any major towns (well Kellogg might be considered major-ish, heh) and is just beautiful--all sorts of wildlife you can see as you cruise by.

I've never been rafting or kayaking, but I know you can do both nearby. There are lots of lakes, too, for boating/fishing or just lounging at a beach.

I don't know anything about 4 or 5, but hopefully someone can help you out. Good luck city-hunting.

[2lizards]

Thanks, sylvanarrow! That's exactly the info I was looking for. It sounds like we could fit in pretty well there, and the outdoor stuff would be fantastic.

BTW, I am a "deer hugger," too, but most of the people I know down here hunt, or are good friends with hunters. The paper even has a section devoted to it! I suppose if I can tolerate that...

[kena]

Sylvanarrow gave a nice response so I'll just add a few items.

1) I consider Spokane pretty evenly balanced. D's have done well in recent elections but the numbers are generally close. I've posted the actual results in past threads but for example, Bush won once and lost once in Spokane County in the last two presidential elections and the D won in the most recent Senate election whereas the R won in the most recent House election. Generally, the city proper leans D and the more rural county leans R.

2) Yes. Sylvanarrow's suggestions were good, I'd say South Perry is really where I would focus first based on your list. In addition to the other suggestions you might also want to check Cannon's Addition. It doesn't have much in the way of a commercial district but it is very close to downtown and close to a local natural market (Huckleberries).

3) Spokane has great year round outdoor activities plus you have Idaho, Montana and Canada as your backyard. Put together it is, in my opinion, one of the best outdoor recreation spots in N. America. There is a whitewater park being built near downtown on the Spokane river Friends of the Falls

4) Air travel is probably moderate. Spokane doesn't have a huge airport so competition can be somewhat limited but it does have decent airfare to most major cities on the west coast and service to some other big hubs so you have options for international flights out of several bigger cities (Seattle, Denver, Salt Lake, Chicago, Minneapolis, LA, Phoenix, etc.)

Good luck.

[2lizards]

Thanks, kena. That gives me more food for thought, especially in regards to possible neighborhoods. I love the idea of being near Canada and the mountains of Idaho and Montana!

[2lizards]

Well, all. I've sent my applications in for a couple of jobs in Spokane. Wish me luck! Things there look like they'd be a good fit for me and my wife, so I'm hoping this pans out.