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.
I'm going with my wife next weekend to check out the St. George area. I have read many posts on this Utah forum concerning St. George. Many do not show this area in a favorable light however they still live there. I find that interesting. The place looks great through what I've seen on the net and flyers, but some say stay away from "Dixie Downs" (don't know what part of town that is. And some say parts of Washington and Santa Clara. Can some of you locals direct me to some good neighborhoods in the 300,000 to 400,000 range, this would cut down on my touring time in a big way.
Thanks
P.S. why are these parts of town stated above less desirable?
There are no real bad areas. The post about avoiding certain areas is due to the quality of the schools in the area. They are not bad, just not as good as some of the others. The only real problem you need to avoid are the homes built in the flood plains. It may not have a problem for years, but it only takes a huge deluge on the type of a 10 year or 100 year downpour to swamp that house in a flood plain.
As to the negative that gets posted, it has to do more with the thoughts people have of coming here that it is all sunshine and roses. That there will be loads of high paying jobs, and the housing is high because of the job market being so good. The truth is the job market sucks. The houses are high becasue of the current real estate fiasco that is happening in most parts of the country, but really got out of hand here. Knowing those two bits of info, you will find that everything else comes into line. It is no better or worse than a lot of places. I personally like it because I've been in love with the scenery/countryside most my life. Hubby and I did not move back here until he had a job that was portable to anywhere in the world. So we brought our own job/income with us. I unlike many use to live here long ago. I moved back 2 years ago. I've seen it a sleepy little place of less than 5K people in the whole county. Now it is 70K in the county 28 years later.
I live 47 miles north outside of Cedar City. And Blondie paints a very realistic picture of St. George. I can auguably say that St. George's little spot on the map of Utah is unique in one important way. The weather. It is the hottest city in the state but by the same token the most tolerable in the winter. So outdoor activities are much more attractive. And waiting for the car to warm up in a morning chill of 25 degrees is a lot better than from minus 10.
Dixie Downs is the area North of Sunset Blvd and Dixie Drive. A horse racing track used to be at the north end of Dixie Drive, hence the name. The track is long gone now. Some of the homes in the area are smaller, some 'track' homes and some double-wide mobile homes. The prices are lower and that has attracted Hispanics and the elementary school has gone 'dual immersion'.
Washington and Santa Clara and St. George all have older parts of town. Most are well-kept and neat. The Washington fields area is nice. Lots of young families and new homes. The price range is about what you asked, but 300K is probably the minimum. I moved from the Pine View area a couple of years ago. The prices are closer to 300K as an average. Most of the houses are 10-15 years old, but also well-kept.
As for the negative comments, I moved here when the population was around 10 thousand people and now the population is approaching 130,000 in Washington County. I suppose all those people could be wrong. Make no mistake, this is a white-bread town. High priced homes, low paying jobs and lots of Mormons.
Hopefully, the temps will drop below 100 degrees by the weekend. This is a beautiful place with lots of opprotunity for recreation. Enjoy your stay.
Stay out of Washington City while you are visiting the St. George area. It is located off exits 10 and 13 from the I-15 interstate. Washington City is a corrupt little Mormon town and was even cursed by Brigham Young in the 1800s that it would not have growth for 100 years--a curse that held amazingly true. Only since 2000 has the city grown from 9,000 to about 20,000, mostly due to the Coral Canyon development on the north end of town and Washington Fields.
In 2006, the backward little city has decided reap the benefits of having it's own police department to help increase its revenue and mandates it police officers for fulfill ticket quotas. These immoral, unethical cops hide out around the town in inconspicuous locations and catch people for miner traffic infractions like not making a total dead stop at a rural stop sign or driving 3 mph over the speed limit. I was a victim of this and I went to the corrupt little city court to fight it and got screwed over big time, as did many others who had the exact same thing happen to them in the same location!
Stay out of corrupt little Washington City. It is run by uneducated, non progressive people who have lived there their whole lives and nowhere else. They are currently feuding with the city of St. George over the construction of a new airport for the area. When it was decided that the new airport would actually be built inside St. George city limits instead of Washington's (or least both cities), Washington City decided not continue the intended project of building the newly constructed Washington Pkwy (exit 13) to the new airport. So you can tell the mentality and attitude of the people that run this corrupt little town.
I'd like to help you with some advise. First of all I moved from a big city and out of state to St. George, UT. Will it be just you and your wife moving to ST. George? Do you have any small children or teenagers relocating with you or are you and your wife looking towards retiring now or in a few years? What type of community are you looking for? Walking distance to restaurants? Fine arts? New homes, older historical homes, family community, schools nearby, countyside, there are so many different places here in St. George. If it's just you and your wife and enjoy the fine arts, but want to stay away from the busy area of St. George city (downtown) there are new communities in the City of Ivins with beautiful views of the snow canyons. Also there is the City of "Kayenta". I recently went to check out real estate in these areas and the homes are beautiful and fairly new. Price range depends on lot size and location but as you know this is a buyers market. If you would rather stay near town, close by markets, walmart, home depot, lowes, movie theaters, resturants, mall, shopping square, medical clinics, then you'd want to check the newer subdivsions the city of St. George going towards Santa Clara, or Bloomington hills, Bloomington and also there is the Washington fields.
If you'd can give me some more information as to your status such as where you live now (city and State) that would help me to provide you more information. What are you interests and why St. George? What type of stuff are you both interested in? Hiking, ATV riding, fishing, fine arts? Is religion important? LDS communities and church activies or involvement, or other religion involvement? Also, if you live Las vegas and to have fun at the casinos and concerts, there's alway "Mesquite, Nevada" which is 30 minutes from ST. George. Oh and by the way there's a lot of places here to golf and great spa's.
Last edited by The Casselli's; 08-29-2007 at 09:57 PM..
Reason: more information
Casselli,
I have a good job offer @ Dixie regional medical center and going for interview next weekend with the Mrs. We have a 10 year old daughter so schools are IMPORTANT! I plan on working another 15-20 years so retirement is aways off. We currently reside in Reno, Nv. It's not a bad place to live but like most desirable places is outgrowing itself 300,000-400,000 folks. We love to camp and bike ride for activity. We are looking for a place to raise our daughter in a safe nieghborhood with bunches of kids, and my mom-in-law is planning on moving with us. Arts are not such a big deal. I enjoy watching football on my Sundays after church. We are not LDS (don't have any problems with them either). We attend a Calvary Chapel here in town so a good christian church in St. George is a priority. Being I would work at the hospital I would need to be within 20 minutes or so of the facility. I don't mind the heat and i am growing tired of the cold winters so St. George looked like a good place on the map. Any further input will be a great bonus.
Oh Yeah, any good eating spots while we're in town ? Not a big fan of chain restuarants i.e. Applebees and the like.
Thanks
You can live in places as far away as Leeds, Hurricane, Dameron Valley, Ivan's and kayenta. In fact most places that surround St. George are within 20 minute drive easily.
This place is chain resturant hell. If there is a chain out there, that resturant will be here. Leeds has the Cosmopoltian Resturant, which many people from Vegasewither drive up for, or fly in on private planes to get to. It is a four star resturant Emie is a great chef and his family is wonderful. Benja Thai is ok, but has been reduced to the bland type to fit in with the local tastes (spicey is suspect here) Sameuri 21 is a one off, but is thinking of franchising. It is like Benihana resutrants. There are a few steak houses, that do a small salad bar type thing, but are not spectacular. Drive up to Springdale at the mouth of Zion National Park, and there is Flannigan's. It is very good, but make sure the head chef is working that night. It can experience down nights when he is gone. Mexican, is the fast food versions, even in the small mom and pop places. Again it has been made more bland to go with local tastes.
Harmons market is trying to bring in gourmet ingredients. They a few months back put in a special cheese section. Not as good as most big cities, but for St. George Utah is a great development. They also have the best deli connected with a grocery store in town. It is also across the street from the medical center.
Do not be dissuaded by the troll post of the woman who is against Washington. That whole post is BS. She got a ticket for not making a stop at a rural stop sign. She has made other wild unfounded claims. But then that is what trolls on the internet do. St. George area has many different ethnic policeman. There are a couple of African Americans, One Navajo, and a few hispanic. They do not harrass you unless you break the law. Then it is not harrassing, it is doing their job to either ticket, or arrest for the type of infraction. It's like that anywhere you break the law and get caught, not just in Utah. Now she will attack me again.
If you really want to know more about the medical center, I know many people who work there. Best to ask direct, and other than the HR people at the center to find out the real scoop on the job and how they cope with St. George.
I use to go up to Reno quite a bit when we lived in SF. The summers here will get to about the same temps. It is the winters that will be much milder. Although we had a two month cold snap last year that was brutal by our standards. We can get snow, but nomally it is gone by noon. Reno being a desert area, will have the same climate bugs, water problems, humidity deficinecy, and other dry climate problems as here. It is much smaller. The airport here is tiny but very easy to get too. The locals here complain about the grwoing traffic. I laugh, because at it's worst it is to me non existant. What you will find are people who know how to operate a vehicle, but do not know how to drive. Too many slow moving vehicles will pull in front of you on I-15 into the fast lane going 60 mph at the last minute so they can get around a slower semi. The road I-15, needs to be three lanes going up the black ridge.
B. Rabbit- I would appreciate the contacts with any hospital employees. You can have them PM or email me with their experiences of the place and questions that I might have. That word "cope" is an interesting choice of vocabulary.
I am a transplant to Southern Utah. Been here a year. I live in Washington City-Coral Canyons, which is a huge, ongoing, familt-oriented development. I can tell you from my experience here, it's very quiet. So, quiet I sometime wonder if people really live here.
I was up in Salt Lake City a couple of months ago, I had original planned to go up for a week and ended up staying a whole month. Driving back (I was about a mile from Coral Canyon), I had a phone call. It was the Washington City Ploice. They wanted to know if I was alright because my neighbors had not seen me for awhile.
Now, I don't even know my neighbors names. I think they knew my first name but that was it. Apparantly they called the homeowners association to get my number. I know that the police or someone came out and check my place because of a screen door that is never shut, was out of position. So, even if my neighbors never seem to leave their homes, they know what I do. Which is very comforting(I think) to me because my neighbors in Cali would have ignored my absence.
Coral Canyons has a elementary shcool located in the development. It's about 7 or 8 miles away from Dixie Reginal. We have swimming pools (indoor/outdoor), tennis court, parks, a gym, etc.. If you are LDS there is a Ward inside the development.
The only thing missing is a social life. Hard to make friends here if you are non LDS and don't have young children. Anyway, Coral Canyons has their own website you can check out. However, if its the artsy crowd you are looking for-Entrada in Ivins and the surrounding area is better. That's where I would have gone had I had more time to look for a place.
Good luck on your search!
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.
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.
