Spokane is superfund site central (Seattle, Fairchild AFB: real estate, foreclosures, property taxes)

[coffeepotbend]

I will be moving back to Spokane in a year and am so bummed out about the pollution there. There are so many superfund sites! The west plains is totally polluted with TCE, Perchlorate and NDMA from Fairchild AFB.......plus a bunch of other areas. Midnight mine near Ford is bad too.

I'm just venting, this is my first post here. Not only is it totally polluted, the price of real estate has doubled.........sigh........so depressed.

If anyone here doesn't believe me, just google EPA Spokane, or Superfund Spokane....Also, West Plains EPA, or TCE Spokane......I've done a ton of research, and it's bad! TCE, Perchlorate and NDMA is everywhere. The cancer rate is high.

I love the beauty there, but the pollution and the crime have me down.....

I know someone is going to be mad and yell, "don't move here", but I don't have a choice, the military is sending me back.....

Thanks for listening........

[kena]

I'm not an expert and have almost certainly done less research than you have but this graphic made Spokane County look pretty good in terms of pollution/superfund sites.

SPOKANE County, WA: Superfund Report

If you scroll down to "rankings" on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being the cleanest and 10 being the dirtiest, Spokane rates a 2-3 for Land Releases and a 4-5 on number of Superfund sites. A ranking of 5 represents the national average for all communities. Hence, Spokane County ranks well below the national average for land releases and below the national average for superfund sites.

Hopefully this will make your return a little brighter.

[coffeepotbend]

Hi Kena, Thank you, I'm trying hard to be positive. I really did love it there. I guess, I fear the places that haven't been discovered yet. They just uncovered TCE in the wells at Spokane Raceway which is for sale. That's on the west plains. 2 years ago the wells near the hutterite complex were discovered polluted with TCE. So much has yet to be discovered. The miitary really doesn't even know where all they dumped that aircraft de-greaser (TCE). It's all over the west plains. Don't even get me started on Idaho, or the Canadian company that has totally polluted the columbia river.

I'm going to try and be positive.....afterall, there is pollution everywhere!!!

[coffeepotbend]

Also, you can't just look at the superfund site rankings. You have to look at the whole picture from the EPA. The rankings are flawed. There are so many area's of concern, and EPA reported contamination that has not made the superfund list yet because no one has pushed enouph for the funds to clean it up. In order for it to be called "superfund", it has to be funded for clean up. There are so many unpopulated areas that are contaminated, but the only way it will get "discovered" is after it gets developed and the contamination discovered and reported. Do some homework on this. If anyone is going to buy land and build, or buy in a new deveopement, it would be well worth your time and health to research the history of the land. I lived in Spokane for 15 years. I left in 2002. I've researched the heck out of the area. The pollution is everywhere, and it is a bummer. I have not figured out exactly where to live again when I get there. I use to live on the west plains. I'm still researching myself. I really think people need to educate themselves on this. The air and water may seem clean....but guess again!

[Deena160]

To be realistic, I think you're going to find this problem anywhere there's been major industry in the past 200 years. Now that we've messed it up, there isn't much choice other then we do what we can when we find it. Unless you can make a living living out in the middle of no-where(assuming that it's not a no-where where they've been dumping toxic waste...) it's something that you have to deal with. I agree that you need to be educated and choose wisely, but I don't know if there's anywhere moderately settled(especially in the northwest) that hasn't been tainted by industry, logging, mining, military, etc.
I once read a sci-fi novel where the space traveler could tell how far a planet had progressed if they had resorted to jettisoning their garbage into orbit--hopefully we'll never 'progress' that far. :~) D

[coffeepotbend]

You are sooooo right!!!! A person would have to live in a very remote state, like North Dakota to escape the pollution. But, they have some too. But, the northwest has been very damaged!

Spokane is pretty bad though. Actually, the west side of the state is even worse. Lets not even discuss New Jersey though, the east coast is bad!!!! That place is a toxic waste land. Yes, our fore fathers really damaged our earth. Clean-up is going to be a very long and expensive undertaking!

"jettisoning their garbage into orbit"........LOl......thanks for the visual!!!!

Yes, research is absolutely a vital part of home shopping!! Choose wisely, I will when I get back there. I'm stationed near Fort Walton beach Florida currently!

[chiaroscuro]

Originally Posted by coffeepotbend

I'm just venting, this is my first post here. Not only is it totally polluted, the price of real estate has doubled.........sigh........so depressed.

Doubled since when? And how is this different from the rest of America? I would hope our real estate wouldn't go down in value. My home I bought four years ago was 125,000, it's now 165,000. I guess you're talking about values doubling from a decade ago?

Originally Posted by coffeepotbend

The cancer rate is high.

Compared to what? Seattle? The rest of america? Unpopulated islands in the south pacific? Could we get a specific source for these cancer statistics? It would certainly ease my mind, since my family has lived here for decades and none of us has cancer yet.

Originally Posted by coffeepotbend

I love the beauty there, but the pollution and the crime have me down.....

There are numerous threads in the spokane forum dealing with the crime, not only from a statistical standpoint but from the perspective of those living here. If the 'crime' has you down, you should move to a town with a population of a couple hundred, or perhaps live by yourself in the woods.

Originally Posted by coffeepotbend

I know someone is going to be mad and yell, "don't move here", but I don't have a choice, the military is sending me back.....

Sorry you have no choice. I spoke to a 60 year old woman where I work. She has lived in 14 states and traveled to 49. I asked her how spokane ranked in places to live, she said probably #2. She enjoyed the low taxes in another state (can't remember which one), because the property taxes were half what they are in spokane. She also enjoyed the year-round warm weather in socal. But she loves the fact that we don't get natural disasters like hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, significant droughts. She loves the fact that we don't have gridlock or thick clouds of smog. She loves the fact that we don't have a rediculous humidity+heat like florida. She loves the fact that we don't have a ton of bugs, such as cockroaches or mosquitos. There are plenty of reasons to hate spokane, namely the winter weather and the property taxes. But if you're talking pollution, and trying to say this place is a cancer hole, I'm gonna have to disagree with you until I see some statistics pegging spokane above other large cities in the nation and the rest of the world.

Originally Posted by coffeepotbend

Thanks for listening........

No problem, sorry you got no choice in the matter. Guess you'd better make the most of it!

[coffeepotbend]

1. The house I sold in 2002, recently sold for double what I sold it for. Arn't you a renter?????? Yes, I hope it goes down to wage sustainable levels. Yes, this problem is everywhere. It's depressing!!

2. A cancer doctor in Spokane who had recently moved to the area told me he moved there because business was booming. He said he saw more new cancer patients in one month than in a year at his previous location.....which I forgot where that was....Plus, I have known several people who died of cancers that were caused by TCE. I did research and found Spokane to have a higher cancer rate, but need to find the source. I'll get back to this one.

3. In the 15 years I was there, I saw a sleepy nice town turn into a bad place filled with meth labs, russian and california gangs, an influx in sex offenders (they even had a 12 page report in the Spokesman review how Spokane was considered a place of hope for offenders. Spokane has a treatment center and an offender could get a job and a place to live in a day. The article was called "City of second chances". Other states were putting newly released sex offenders on buses and shipping them to Spokane.) Spokane.net - City of Second Chances (read it and weep)

4. The pollution. It is bad. Answering this one would take a lot of work. Have you done any research yourself? If you did, you would know it's true. To name a few. Fairchild AFB (west plains and TCE), Midnight mine, downwind from Hanford meltdown, tons of mining in both Wa, and Idaho. The big company in Canada (Teck Cominco Metals Ltd) that has been and is still dumping hazardous waste into the Columbia river, Keisier aluminum, Eco-cycle, veske village, Colbert landfill, northside landfill, Spokane junkyard,.... There is so many things that never even made these lists....but I know about them. This is just a few off the top of my head....

Compared to most places, Spokane is a cesspool.......but a very pretty and scenic cesspool at that.

[chiaroscuro]

I don't mind you posting real life statistics and figures on the pollution levels in spokane, just as long as there is a comparison with other top 100 cities in the nation, and concrete sources. An 'unnamed doctor' and his word doesn't quite do it for me. I appreciate you listing the article about sex offenders, maybe a link to that would be nice also. Again, nothing should be hidden from anyone thinking of moving here, but I don't like trolls who like to bash this city for no reason. Real stats and figures are everyone's business, and should be made available. Calling spokane a 'cesspool' is your opinion and you are welcome to it, but having lived here my whole life and also traveled many different places, I've seen other cities which would beat spokane hands down on the 'cesspool' title. Carry on.

[chiaroscuro]

Originally Posted by coffeepotbend

1. The house I sold in 2002, recently sold for double what I sold it for. Arn't you a renter?????? Yes, I hope it goes down to wage sustainable levels. Yes, this problem is everywhere. It's depressing!!

No I own two homes, one which I rent out. I purchased one three years ago and the other four years ago, both are in good areas. Neither has doubled in that span of time, but they have appreciated enough that I will probably sell them once we get out of this recession. Property values in spokane are right where they should be. They don't tank, and they don't spike, they just slowly climb. The housing boom affected the whole nation, spokane to a lesser extent. Right now is a great time to buy. Foreclosures and really good deals everywhere. I should have saved my extra cash instead of buying a drumkit, new car, and major dental work. Oh well, can't live thrifty all the time.