Best area for female WSU student (Spokane, Bellingham: apartments, rentals, crime)

[Ellya]

My 22 year old daughter will be attending WSU Riverpoint campus. What would be the best areas to consider for apartment rentals? She will have a car, but she is not experienced driving in snow. Safety and convenience are high priorities.

[sylvanarrow]

Lincoln Heights, on the east side of the South Hill, is fairly safe and affordable. It's where I live (also female), and I don't worry about walking my dog at night. Manito Park is a great neighborhood a bit to the west, though there are fewer apartments there. The downside with the South Hill is it can be treacherous in the winter (all of Spokane can but we seem to get more snow up here), though she could always take the bus during bad weather.

I wouldn't rent down around the river or freeway, though if you go right north of the river it isn't too bad. I have a female friend who has an apartment on Washington a few blocks north of Riverfront Park, and she likes how convenient it is to every thing and hasn't had any troubles there.

Here's a crime map you might want to take a peep at:

http://www.spokanegis.org/crimemap/default.asp?zoomlevel=22000 (broken link)

[Ellya]

Thanks for the info! Do you have any idea how to take the bus from South Hill area to the Riverpoint University area? I looked at the bus routes and it looks like there is no direct route.

Also, how about the Valley? Is that really inconvenient?

Are there any safe areas within walking distance (it didn't look like it to me)?

Thanks again for the help...

[ktm2007]

I lived in Browns Addition for almost 3 years when I was at Gonzaga. I loved it there. I was on Coeur d' Alene Street, which overlooks the big ridge. Most of the stuff in Browns Addition is houses that have been turned into several unit apartments. I never had a problem there, and I lived by myself. I love how close it was to downtown, and there are a few great restuarants there!

[am81]

Since I moved to Spokane last summer myself, I thought I might be able to share some information.

First of all, the information that sylvanarrow provided was really good. I would also recommend the lower part of the South Hill as that seems to be a good area. I would avoid the West Central area. That is currently where I live and frankly there are times when I do not feel comfortable with a female friend walking alone from my house to the store at the end of the block. We literally have homeless people living in the alley behind the house.

As for the bus system, I use it regularly as I do not have a car. There is no direct way to get to the WSU-Spokane area from the South Hill really. Your daughter would need to take a bus from her apartment to the station downtown. Then she would transfer to the #29 route which goes to the campus. That bus runs every 30 minutes I believe and takes perhaps 5 minutes to get to campus.

Generally speaking, she would travel to the station a lot if she uses the bus system as virtually all the routes go through there. It is actually fairly convenient and easy to use once you get accustomed to it.

As for the Valley, it is not too terribly inconvenient if she drives. Traffic running that way is generally better than the north-south traffic. Bad roads can be a problem though.

If she plans to use the bus traveling from the valley take quite a bit of time. My office is in the edge of Spokane Valley, just outside of Spokane. I leave my house at around 6:45 and arrive at my office at 8:15. Part of that is due to a badly designed route though.

A friend of mine generally takes the #90 route from the valley station to downtown which I believe takes her 30-40 minutes. It would take her longer if she did not get a ride to the station first. Also she really dislikes that bus route as it is known to be more crowded and often has "shadier" people than some of the other routes. She does not always feel comfortable riding that bus route alone.

[Ellya]

There seems to be a lot of consensus that South Hill is a good place to look. I'm worried about the commute on a bus from the Valley, gosh 1.5 hours each way for a drive of under 10 miles is horrible! In her car, it would be fine, but the bus seems difficult. I haven't seen any good apartments so far on a bus line going either through Riverpoint or down Division.

She has studded tires and a front wheel drive vehicle. How many days a year would you estimate driving would be scary?

Is the bus transfer station a safe place?

Thanks for all the info so far! You guys are really helpful!

[kena]

Originally Posted by Ellya

There seems to be a lot of consensus that South Hill is a good place to look. I'm worried about the commute on a bus from the Valley, gosh 1.5 hours each way for a drive of under 10 miles is horrible! In her car, it would be fine, but the bus seems difficult. I haven't seen any good apartments so far on a bus line going either through Riverpoint or down Division.

She has studded tires and a front wheel drive vehicle. How many days a year would you estimate driving would be scary?

Is the bus transfer station a safe place?

Thanks for all the info so far! You guys are really helpful!

Alot depends on the type of winter. This past winter was a 'fifty year winter' but the winters the years before were much lighter in terms of snowfall. With front wheel drive and studded tires she would probably be okay on almost all but the worst days. Of course, there is a good chance her classes might be cancelled or delayed on days with a high amount of snowfall so it may be less of an issue.

The downtown bus station draws a wide array of people. While there are certainly some unsavory types there are also plenty of people who are transferring to get to work, school, etc. The station is right in the middle of downtown in open view of plenty of people and is staffed with security and, I believe, a dedicated police officer so I wouldn't consider it particularly dangerous.

Also, the Gonzaga neighborhood isn't generally as nice as the south hill but it is home to a large number of college students and it would be a decent walk, a short bike ride, or a very short drive across/around the GU campus to the Riverpoint campus.

[ktm2007]

Has your daughter ever driven in the snow?

I have front wheel and all seasons, and honestly I was fine this winter, which was a bad one. If she decides to find housing on the south hill, the further up she goes, the more trouble she may have getting off the hill (and back up again of course). But honestly, she should be just fine with front wheel drive and studs. For me this winter, it was more of a clearance issue with my car on some of the streets as we got a lot of snow. The city is pretty good about keeping main streets plowed and keeping the de-icer on the streets

[Ellya]

She has only driven in snow a few times. Currently she attends WWU in Bellingham, but when it snows she is within walking distance of school. It may be that South Hill with a back up bus plan might be a good choice. Do you know of any particularly nice apartments in that area?

[Deena160]

Gotta quickly pipe in...driving in the snow is much easier when everyone else around is used to driving in it. What makes driving in the snow twice as treacherous in Western Washington is that most people don't know what the heck they're doing and can't remember the basics they learned in drivers-ed!
:~) D