Philly to Spokane - 24/m (Seattle, South Hill: condo, crime, home)

[PhillyVBoy]

Hey Guys. I'll keep it very simple.

I am looking at a position in Spokane. I am a 24 yr old male who is looking to move from Philly. Im not as much worried about crime or most family oriented questions.

My main questions are about a few main things.

Weather - Snow covered? Freezing?
Social life - Im 24 looking to meet people similar to my age. I understand about all the Universities but 19 and 20 year olds arent exactly my thing. Are there a lot of post graduates who stay in Spokane? The 23-28 yr old crowd? Is there a more desirable area where they live?
Attitude - What is the general attitude of the people here?

thanks guys...

[RetiredChef]

Sorry about all the [SIZE=3] I can never post a reply here without these appearing - it's frustrating.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][SIZE=3]I am slightly older then you but I understand you question and have kids that are close to you age.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]>>>Weather - Snow covered? Freezing?[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]This year was an exceptional year, most of the time we do get snow, it stays it melts, it snows again. But we have had snow on the ground this year form mid-December and will probably have it on the ground in the outlying areas till April.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Does it freeze here, yes, is it ‘freezing’? That’s highly relative; some people think it is dreadful, others like myself and my wife find it to be mild. There is only a handful of days that stay 10 degrees or below but there are probably a good 60 days that we may never get above 32.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]>>>Social life - Im 24 looking to meet people similar to my age. I understand about all the Universities but 19 and 20 year olds arent exactly my thing. Are there a lot of post graduates who stay in Spokane?[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Good luck then unless you are a doctor. Most post graduates leave the area pretty quickly looking for more lucrative jobs and a better social life; however there are quite a few younger medical people in town.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]>>>The 23-28 yr old crowd? [/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Not much that my kids would consider desirable, the ones that are hear don’t have much ambition or much worldly knowledge.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]>>>Is there a more desirable area where they live?[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Condo’s along the river downtown or around 7 / 8th street by the hospitals seems to be the areas where the younger, intelligent people live. South Hill also seems to attract them.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=3]>>>Attitude - What is the general attitude of the people here?[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Pretty laid back and mellow. Most people love the outdoors and enjoy their time being on the lakes, hiking, biking, etc. There is of course the sedentary type but we will ignore those.[/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3]Spokane does not really have a middle class, therefore we have many have’s and many have-not’s. Most of the haves do not flaunt it, so you may no know exactly who does and who does not.[/SIZE]

[509]

Originally Posted by RetiredChef

Most of the haves do not flaunt it, so you may no know exactly who does and who does not.[/SIZE]

There was a article in the paper several years ago that Spokane had one of the highest ownership rates for Mercedes cars. The paper figured that they were all parked in the garages because the people were to embarrassed to drive the cars around town.

But then again there is the old joke about Spokane......" How can you tell the Mercedes is from Spokane? It has a gun rack in the back window."

[kena]

Spokane is a true four season city. It has warm to hot dry summers (think temps around 80), usually nice falls with the days getting a bit of crispness and the leaves changing color (not on the same scale as the NE because there are more evergreen trees) and cold-ish winters. Generally, Spokane gets about 50 inches of snow over the course of an entire winter.

Snow is typically spread out anywhere from late November to mid-March (with most usually in December/January). More typical of recent years is to have a decent snowfall and then see it melt over a few days and then have another decent snowfall a while later, and so on. Every once in a while, however, you get a winter like this one where there is a large amount of snowfall all coming at the same time (although this winter was an absolute abberation in the volume of snow).

Typical winter weather is a high from 25-45 and low anywhere from the mid 30s and lower. There is generally a week or two of truly cold whether where temps might not break 10 or 15 degrees. The forecast for this week is a pretty good reflection of the weather at this time of year SpokesmanReview.com :: Weather for Spokane

Regarding young professionals, yes there are such types in Spokane but you'd have to understand that Spokane will not have the volume of young professionals that a bigger city (like Philly or Seattle) will have. Check out the Spokane Society of Young Professionals to get a sense of the young professional scene here. Spokane Society of Young Professionals - Home
You also might want to check out things like the weekly paper: Inlander
And local blogs: iluvspokane: the only guide to spokane

People tend to be northwest laid-back. Outdoor sports and activities are popular given Spokane's access to great lakes, mountains, hiking, skiing, kyaking, etc. Spokane is also a community oriented town that comes together for large events like hoopfest (largest 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the country where over 100,000 come downtown to play and watch the games) and Bloomsday, one of largest road races in the country. It is big enough to get broadway shows (it will take a while for the hottest shows to make it here) and some touring concerts (if Spokane gets skipped, chances are Seattle will get the show which is a doable drive of about 4 hours or a 50 minute flight). Spokane - Pollstar -- The Concert Hotwire

The city is a pretty even split between Republicans and Democrats (the presidential election was almost excatly 50-50) with the city proper tending to be more liberal and the outer areas more conservative. Spokane won't be confused with San Francisco anytime soon but it is far less conservative than the deep red states. I think there is a general northwest 'live and let live' mentality.

There has been a tension in the recent past between those who like Spokane as it is and those who want to see it grow and progress. Personally, I think Spokane has made some great strides but, like most places, it still has room to improve.

End of treatise. Good luck with your decision.

[ArcticPhoenix]

Originally Posted by PhillyVBoy

Hey Guys. I'll keep it very simple.

I am looking at a position in Spokane. I am a 24 yr old male who is looking to move from Philly. Im not as much worried about crime or most family oriented questions.

My main questions are about a few main things.

Weather - Snow covered? Freezing?
Social life - Im 24 looking to meet people similar to my age. I understand about all the Universities but 19 and 20 year olds arent exactly my thing. Are there a lot of post graduates who stay in Spokane? The 23-28 yr old crowd? Is there a more desirable area where they live?
Attitude - What is the general attitude of the people here?

thanks guys...

Weather. Winters suck. They are frigid, though not as frigid as, say, Minnesota, and there's a decent amount of snow most years (this year has been worse than most though). Air stagnates in the area and it can be very foggy here in the winter. Summer though is worth the 8 month winters. It's beautiful, dry, and comfortably warm. There are two seasons here in Washington, Winter and August.

Social life. There's some nightlife, but I stay home mostly, so I can't help you much here. There are a decent amount of clubs and things to do downtown, though.

Attitude of the people here is somewhat laid back... not so much as the South maybe, but people here aren't too uptight about things. It's a fairly relaxed environment, I have yet to hear anyone in the area say anything racist at all, and I don't know of anyone who's had problems here with other people. People can get impatient here, but overall it's a relaxed environment.

[eaglewlf772000]

hey philly this is hillbilly,
i moved back here in 94 from the abington/philly area, it aint bad here and if you like the area around 23yr to 30 yr olds youd probably like the gonzaga area or the shadle area those are the nicer areas in that age range. im 31 and i live on the lower southhill area and ill be movin back to the shadle area in bout 4-5months if not sooner, that seems to be one of the better areas, all around, but there is alot of wannabe hoodlums around here if u know what i mean. other than that its an all around nice place to live and work..