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Hello all-
My family has just gotten news that we will be relocating within the year. I've been reading alot of posts in the forum and notice that some go back a few years and I'm hoping for some honest, up-to-date info on the area and what life is like there in TC.
A little background on my family: We live in the west Portland area right now. I am originally from the republic of Panama, but have called Oregon home since I was 3. My hubby is caucasian, we have a son who is 13 and on the Autism spectrum. My mom lives with us and she's a hairdresser. My sister will probably move with us- she's a single mother and her 15 year old son (my nephew) is mixed. She would be looking for work in the medical field as she is an MA/limited x-ray tech. We are a very friendly and family oriented group, pretty outgoing - always have been, but we have all seen our share of intollerance because of our ..differences. I'm hoping that I'll hear that the Tri-cities area is very tollerant and friendly..especially as far as my son and nephew are concerened..but I would really appreciate honesty even if it's not what I want to hear.
The home prices are waaay better than Portland from what I can tell and the weather sounds very much to our liking and a definite relief from the..sogginess of this place.
Where are the best places to live?
Any and all info is GREATLY appreciated. We visited the area last week, but didn't stay very long..mostly just drove around because we didn't really know where to go We plan on making more trips before we move, but would like to be more prepared next time.
Thank you in advance!
I don't know how the local area is on autism, but it should be good considering how many socially challenged physics wonks we have here. A local therapist tells me that we are basically Asberger's Central.
Local medical industry sucks except for dental. However, there will probably be opportunities there, just make sure you go to Spokane or Seattle or Portland for anything you care about.
By saying you're Panamanian I'm gathering you're saying you're black, right? Kennewick and Richland have ugly racial histories but most of that is well in the past. Although if you talk to elderly black locals from Pasco, you can sure get an earful about Kennewick--they haven't forgiven, and I don't blame them. I don't think it's too bad today here.
Best areas to live depends on whether you are looking for McMansions, average places or Section 8.
Actually, no..I'm Central American- not black, but definitely brown..and no Mcmansions or section 8 for us..just a regular 3-4 bedroom house is fine, maybe an apartment for my sis. I just wanna know if it's a nice place to live & raise a family that's not fully caucasian or neurotypical, mostly. Thanks for your help. Just trying to get an inside opinion on the area. Moving out that far is a pretty big move for us, and I want to know what to expect from life in TC so there are no big surprises. We are a friendly bunch..We don't mess with folks and don't want to be messed with either. Pretty much keep to ourselves otherwise. Thanks again for your honesty. What are the utilities like there?
Actually, no..I'm Central American- not black, but definitely brown..and no Mcmansions or section 8 for us..just a regular 3-4 bedroom house is fine, maybe an apartment for my sis. I just wanna know if it's a nice place to live & raise a family that's not fully caucasian or neurotypical, mostly. Thanks for your help. Just trying to get an inside opinion on the area. Moving out that far is a pretty big move for us, and I want to know what to expect from life in TC so there are no big surprises. We are a friendly bunch..We don't mess with folks and don't want to be messed with either. Pretty much keep to ourselves otherwise. Thanks again for your honesty. What are the utilities like there?
Tri-Cities is pretty much a place where no one messes with you, which is one of its strong points. If you look Hispanic you won't even stand out--in Pasco you'd be in the slight majority. If your children behave well in public that's a huge plus--this area has a lot of fairly bratty kids whom it's obvious could benefit from discipline firmer than 'time out'. I think it's probably a pretty good place to raise a family. Lots of middle-of-the-road housing, fairly affordable.
My electricity for a three person 2400 sf house is about $100 a month outside of summer, $200 a month in summer. In winter, gas bill is anywhere from $70-140 (can be higher).
It's really cliquish here, but not in a snooty way, more of a distant way. They're very polite, just can be hard to get connected with groups who basically grew up together. The great strength of the area is safety, quiet and being able to live your life in peace. The great weakness is the never-complain, never-get-it-done Hanford mentality that permeates local government and business, thus creating a climate of great mediocrity in government and education.
Thank you j_k_k. Thankfully our children are very well behaved and repectful, but I know of the type of kids you speak of..we have quite a few of them out here- we spend alot of time inwardly shaking our heads at them (and their parents) in grocery stores, doctors or dentists offices etc. haha, so that won't be much of a change.
Glad to hear that people aren't snooty either..I won't miss that about the area where we live currently. Love the safety aspect. I just heard yesterday that Portland has the most sex offenders per capita than other cities of the same size, and of course there's the gang element that is a big source of irritation, even though we don't live in the "gang area", so I will be more than happy to be away from that. A quieter way of life sounds very appealing. The evening news out this way gets downright depressing with all the crime out here.
Thanks for the heads-up on utilities..are the water bills reasonable? I ask because I noticed it was awful dry out there, so I'm curious.
Chances are we will end up in the Kennewick or West/South Highlands area..we've seen a couple home listings out in that area and would like to be closer to the busier areas of town..are there any places I should stay away from?
Thank you j_k_k. Thankfully our children are very well behaved and repectful, but I know of the type of kids you speak of..we have quite a few of them out here- we spend alot of time inwardly shaking our heads at them (and their parents) in grocery stores, doctors or dentists offices etc. haha, so that won't be much of a change.
Glad to hear that people aren't snooty either..I won't miss that about the area where we live currently. Love the safety aspect. I just heard yesterday that Portland has the most sex offenders per capita than other cities of the same size, and of course there's the gang element that is a big source of irritation, even though we don't live in the "gang area", so I will be more than happy to be away from that. A quieter way of life sounds very appealing. The evening news out this way gets downright depressing with all the crime out here.
Thanks for the heads-up on utilities..are the water bills reasonable? I ask because I noticed it was awful dry out there, so I'm curious.
Chances are we will end up in the Kennewick or West/South Highlands area..we've seen a couple home listings out in that area and would like to be closer to the busier areas of town..are there any places I should stay away from?
We don't have a lot of gang stuff, though there is a little in east Kennewick and east Pasco. It's something I could probably find if I was hunting for it, but there's no desire to hunt for it, and in any case there is not one square inch of Tri-Cities I find scary (some is run-down, but not scary). My water/sewer bill is about $80 every two months, plus an annual extortion of $400 for irrigation (and you cannot really opt out of it). Without irrigation this place would be all sagebrush and sand, which is its normal state without people.
The busiest area of Kennewick is definitely Columbia Center Blvd, with the mall and proximity to the freeway and river. Second busiest I'd say is the area around 395 and Clearwater. South Highlands is rather closer to me (South Kennewick), and is real quiet; West Highlands is farther and just as quiet. Downtown Kennewick really doesn't amount to much, unless you have a hankering for tattoos, antiques, or nightclubs.
I'm not sure how many pervs we have relative to the general populace; I'd assume we have our share. Hope not too many.
j_k_k you said something in an earlier post about mediocrity in government and education (sorry, I can't figure out how to do the quote thing you did *smacks forehead*). Are you saying the schools are not so great? Not that the schools here in Portland are exactly stellar. I will most likely be homeschooling my son, but my nephew will be using the public school system (high school). Can you tell me anything specific about them? If I were to enroll my son in public school, do they have special classrooms/ services specificly for children on the Autism spectrum, or would he have to either be mainstreamed or placed in special ed? I realize you may not have the answer to the latter part of my question, but maybe someone does?
Thanks for answering so many questions..I'm a bit of a researcher and I've pretty much exhausted every search engine trying to find out everything I can about Kennewick/TC but I believe you've gotta ask the locals to get the real info. Alot of sites I've looked at are pretty extreme in their opinions of the area. I feel like either they're trying to sell me something or completely dicourage me from it. I appreciate the real life low-down on things. I'll figure out the truth sooner or later anyhow, but it's important for me to know what I'm getting into so that I can adjust accordingly if possible.
j_k_k you said something in an earlier post about mediocrity in government and education (sorry, I can't figure out how to do the quote thing you did *smacks forehead*). Are you saying the schools are not so great? Not that the schools here in Portland are exactly stellar. I will most likely be homeschooling my son, but my nephew will be using the public school system (high school). Can you tell me anything specific about them? If I were to enroll my son in public school, do they have special classrooms/ services specificly for children on the Autism spectrum, or would he have to either be mainstreamed or placed in special ed? I realize you may not have the answer to the latter part of my question, but maybe someone does?
I don't know the school system that well, but based on the local level of general ignorance of the world, lack of emphasis on reading and quality writing, and tendency to just swallow whatever they're handed or told, I am not impressed. I am also very unimpressed with the way the past racial unpleasantness is swept under the rug, rather than presented in the local museums and acknowledged and understood. There remain hints of it in local profiling I see from the police, at least in Kennewick.
There's a good deal of local boosterism here, a fair bit of self-congratulation. One can see a lot of it in the mediocre old line businesses that stay in business almost as habits, when an outsider would look at them and see the mediocrity. Doesn't matter--that's where they go and have always gone. On the other hand, in a crisis situation (such as a natural disaster), these people are some of the very best anywhere I have ever seen. They're generous, they volunteer in large numbers, they share. They have good hearts. I don't think too much of their education or thought processes, but those aren't everything in life. I know a lot of very highly educated, capable critical thinkers I wouldn't want to live with.
You'd have liked when Fred Phelps's animals came here to protest a Marine's funeral. Five pathetic hatemongers parading back and forth in a vacant lot. About twenty Pasco police reluctantly preventing people from crossing the street. About two thousand locals of all types, ages, views, faiths and such, a wall of opposition. I was very proud of the TC that day. It was the best side of this area.
Well, for the most part, it sounds very appealing to me compared to where we are now, and it sounds like there's a healthy sense of community. Good-hearted people go a long way with me, and it says alot about the town. That sounds very refreshing. People were very helpful & polite to us while we were there, and it's nice to know that it wasn't just a freak episode where we just happened to get lucky, but that it's actually how they really are.
The utilies prices sound great also- much better than what we've been paying here.
All in all it does seem like a nice place to live, and you've quelled alot of my fears. Makes me feel like if I can deal with the issues in Portland, the TC shouldn't be a problem at all. It would even be a relief. Whew!
If there's anything else you can tell me I'd love to hear it, and again thank you for being so honest and helpful. It is much appreciated!
No problem. My views of the TC are often unpopular, but I see it through the eyes of someone who has lived in tiny WA towns and large WA cities alike, and has absolutely no boosterish axe to grind, nor gives a rip if anyone is offended. If one grew up someplace and has never left, where they are is what they consider normal. It's not that other places are not sometimes afflicted with a general social passivity; some are. Just that in this case it's really pronounced. They just let their school districts and municipalities do whatever they want, and like any unfettered leadership, that leadership takes full advantage. These people just get raped from a point of view of tax dollar value, and they just lay there and say it's good.
One of the major local neuroses has to do with Hanford, which makes sense as it is the primary local employment source. Naturally, this area is very pro-nuclear. All anti-nuclear sentiment is dismissed with a mixture of grumbles about junk science/Seattle anti-nuke kooks/etc. Kind of a bunker mentality. Naturally, any time there is a nuclear problem anywhere in the world, they get going. The comical part is that they are talking about how utterly safe it is, how impossible a disaster is, while their main occupation is trying to remedy a massive nuclear mess (which never gets cleaned up, and never will, since Hanford employment is over the day it does). The key factor here is that people's pro-nuclearity, whether most will admit it or not, has far more to do with "jobs at Hanford" than with "this is right for the country." I find most of the arguments disingenuous. I'm not necessarily anti-nuclear myself, just don't like intellectually dishonest arguments. Anyway, that's the biggest local bugaboo.
What we really need (and I'm not the only one who thinks it) is a real four-year university rather than a subpar community college and a branch campus of a larger four-year university. We also need more local ethnic dining options, and of better quality, and for people to patronize them. Unfortunately, this area felt it was in heaven when it got an Olive Garden and an IHOP in the same year. Yeah, it's that bad. If you're used to Portland Chinese, don't even try the local variety here. Thai, however, can be pretty good.
While there are not a massive constant amount of local events, there are enough if people will actually do them, and a lot of volunteers and hard workers put major effort into them. The good news is that all local events are doable without major struggles. I went to a few Mariners games in Seattle and it simply was never worth the great bother and cost. If you keep your eyes out and an open mind, there's plenty to engage you.
Your neighbors probably will not make a major effort to get to know you, but if you reach out to them and build ties, that does work. It has enhanced my life a lot. I live here as a pagan dissident with very unconventional views and zero nationalism, surrounded by patriotic Christians of very orthodox social thinking, and I get along great. I don't hassle them about any of it and they do me the same courtesy. What is more important is that my neighbors and I feel we can count on one another, talk things out, help one another. If you take the time to build that, this can be a fantastic place to live.
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We plan on making more trips before we move, but would like to be more prepared next time.
