Tri-cities wind? (Kennewick, Edmonds, Richland: renting, crime rates, house)

[scaleskin]

I have lived here in tri-cities for four years now and I have never meet someone who has not had there car broken into. I moved here from seattle washington where I have lived for 17 years and I have not heard of half as many bad things happening on the local news there as here (besides some of are more famouse killers such as the green river killer), and the immagrants are packed here more than any place in washinton.

[Ron House]

My wife and I are relocating from SoCal as we are retiring and no one can live down here on a retirement check.
We have looked in Western Washington and Oregon (our first choices) and are priced out.We need to stay at a max of $225K. The tric cities area sure looks good on the internet and the propoganda we have received seems to reinforce that.But these posts are all ovevr the lot on the issues such as crime,nuclear pollution,weather etc. Which is the real truth???
Is it safe area for retirees. (I imagine PAsco is not)
How is the medical care for seniors
I imagine Hanford is not and issue bit is it???
Isthe river such that you could swim in it? I never see anyone in it in the pictures I have
We like a more rural area so what would be bebst for us.
We plan on coming up there in April,early so we would liek some info before then.
Is the tricity area better than Spokane for a retired couple (both a young 63)
Thanks a lot

[relocated46]

Ron House,

We have recently moved to Kennewick from the Central Ca. I have sent you a private message with my opinions and info. I prefer this method I hope you don't mind. I don't know much about Spokane, It get's quite a bit more snow and weather than the Tri Cities but shopping is better. I hear it is a nice town. I personally don't care to drive in the snow, out of practice and never cared for it anyway. We will go to snow when we need it. Good Luck

[relocated46]

Ron, I forgot to mention one thing. If immigrants are a concern for you as mentioned by scaleskin above, you probably won't hardly notice it compared to So. Cal. more in parts of Pasco. It just is very different in my opinion. The car wash and similar services almost all non-immigrants, to bad, they do a terrible job. To all other readers let it be know I am not slamming immigrants, just making an observation in comparison to So. Cal. where you don't see High School kids working at McDonalds etc...

[Symi81]

Originally Posted by Ron House

My wife and I are relocating from SoCal as we are retiring and no one can live down here on a retirement check.
We have looked in Western Washington and Oregon (our first choices) and are priced out.We need to stay at a max of $225K. The tric cities area sure looks good on the internet and the propoganda we have received seems to reinforce that.But these posts are all ovevr the lot on the issues such as crime,nuclear pollution,weather etc. Which is the real truth???
Is it safe area for retirees. (I imagine PAsco is not)
How is the medical care for seniors
I imagine Hanford is not and issue bit is it???
Isthe river such that you could swim in it? I never see anyone in it in the pictures I have
We like a more rural area so what would be bebst for us.
We plan on coming up there in April,early so we would liek some info before then.
Is the tricity area better than Spokane for a retired couple (both a young 63)
Thanks a lot

Hi, and welcome to the Pacific Northwest, the greatest region of America IMHO! I was born/raised in Seattle, lived in Spokane from 2000-2005, and just (temporarly) moved to Tri-Cities from Seattle. I've spent pleanty of time in all said cities in all months of the year. To address your questions/concerns:

CRIME in Tri-Cities is NOT really an issue, especially violent crime. Pasco is alllegadly more "ghetto" than Richland and Kennewick, however.

WEATHER in Tri-Cities is brillient, except for the cold/foggy and sometimes wet winter (dec, jan, feb and another 2ish weeks split on each end) We are just now (March 9) crossing over into the Spring and will be enjoying dry, warm and sunny weather for the next 7 months. Summers here are very hot and dry, 90+ is not at all uncommon, 85ish is probably about average for summer. Like much of Eastern Washington, Tri-Cities is VERY dry, only getting 7-9 inches of rain annually.

NUCLEAR polution is not an issue for the average person. Its only an issue at the Hanford reservation and long-term Columbia River cleanup. The Columbia River is perfectly safe for swimming and recreation.

Tri-Cities is growing somewhat quickly. Unfortunatly, almost all new development of of the suburban sprawl variety which will results in a cultural void. Although there are lots of nice, new and big homes, new developments have little to no character because of the sprawl. Instead of neighborhood business districts, 90% of commericial activity talkes place in sprawling bix-box stores and strip malls - very sad. To avoid sprawl, I would reccoment Richland, it has some older grid-style neighborhoods and a small "downtown".

Unfortunaltly I can't advise you regarding senior issues and medical care, as I am only 25 yrs old.

Compared to Tri-Cities, Spokane is more like a normal, traditional small/medium-size city. It has a grid street system, neighborhoods, a downtown (which is being revitalized), and hotels, restaurants, arts, culture, etc of a bigger city. Spokane has GREAT public golf courses. There a couple neighborhoods in Spokane that are adjacent to downtown and also on the edge of the city with easy access to parks, golf, natural area, etc. Spokane has some great hisoric neighborhoods, homes and downtown brick buildings. Spokane's weather can be pretty sucky except for the spring and summer though - its cloudy like Seattle for much of the year, but colder, frequent freezes and snow in winter, but under 20 inches rain (like Seattle, it rains a little alot). So if you can deal with the winters, Spokane would probably be a nice place to retire.

In my view, Spokane is a much nicer city with its amenities, culture, downtown, etc. However, weather in tri-cities is way superior due to the desert climate.

I hope this helps! Dont hesitate to ask if you have more questions! Good luck!

[Ron House]

Thanks for the very thorough response.

Trfi Cities seems to be a good place for us. We are looking for a nice home, basement etc and it looks like there are a lot to choose from.

I am told I should stay away from Pasco but my realtor (who says she lives in West PAsco) says Pasco is very nice.????

We want to escape all the SoCals crime and heasring so much spanish being spoken.

It seems considering this we may want to reconsider Spokane. What about Pst Falls or CDA???

Thanks

ROn

[Symi81]

Honestly, I am not as familiar with Pasco as I am with Richland and Kennewick. That being said, I'm pretty sure its safe to say Pasco is not "nice". You will find more folks speaking Espanol in Pasco than other areas of the Tri-Cities. Are you sure your realtor's intentions are altruistic? I've been meaning to explore Pasco, if you would like, I would be happy to take some pics of the area and post them or send them to you. Let me know.

Again, I would recomend Richland if you are thinking of moving to the Tri-Cities.

Personally, I'm not a fan of Post Falls - I think its a sprawl zone and (being a new urbanist) that offends me. However, you might like it. CdA can be really nice, the closer you are to the lake, resort and downtown the better. If you get very far north of CdA its becoming sprawl zone where forests and farms are being converted into strip malls and track housing at an alarming rate. Personally, I think Spokane is nicer than CdA, but thats because I am more of a city guy. Due to the proximity of the hills and mountains, the weather over in Idaho is a little more wet and cloudy comapared to Spokane (not much, just a bit).

Have you ever checked out Goodle earth? Its a GREAT way to get an overview of what various places look like, I would strongly recomend you download it.

[mustang34]

Hello I was just surfing the web and I found this forum.

I will get straight to the point, as I read through I noticed some annoying remarks against Pasco. I was born in Pasco and lived here my entire life so I feel I know Pasco well enough to give a good idea of what Pasco is really like.

I admit that Pasco has a large, undesireable, low-income area but that is not the whole story!

As your realtor said West Pasco is very nice. It is mostly brandnew and there is also the riverfront land. The new homes are nice and inexpensive compared to large cities where the same homes would cost triple or more. Road 68 in West Pasco is emerging as a great, new shopping center with a lot of selection.

Pasco is growing very quickly, with a large number of new residents being RETIREES. I am not saying that you have to move to West Pasco, but please don't rule it out because of rumors and unfair prejudice.

[wythors]

Having spent the first 15 of my 44 years living in Kennewick and having been back to visit several times, I can say uneqivocally that yes, the wind does blow all the time there. The day we moved to the West Side in 1977, Kennewick was the hottest place in the nation with a high of 113 degrees. Summers are hot and the dust gets everywhere. I wouldn't ever consider living there after experiencing the other side of the mountains.

[compltlyme]

Originally Posted by wythors

Having spent the first 15 of my 44 years living in Kennewick and having been back to visit several times, I can say uneqivocally that yes, the wind does blow all the time there. The day we moved to the West Side in 1977, Kennewick was the hottest place in the nation with a high of 113 degrees. Summers are hot and the dust gets everywhere. I wouldn't ever consider living there after experiencing the other side of the mountains.

Like anything it all depends on what you are used to I guess. I love the west side of the mountains but just helped my friend move to West Pasco. It is a great area, fairly new homes. Very clean and the people are really nice. I have other family that live there as well and in all the times I have gone only once did I experience winds. Now having come from The Palm Springs area of So Ca.. the winds in the tri city area were nothing compared to the hard blowing SAND of where we came from. Where it would blow so hard each year that had to change out your windshield and headlights every few years because of the sandblast they would get. You have to make sure your doors don't face the winds because it can be difficult to open them in certain parts of that desert. So the tri cities seems mild in comparison. And 113!!! If that is all it would get down in So Ca I would have not moved. In the summer that was a decent day. I have seen it in the 120's way too many times. So for my friend...she is thrilled to be living there and having left the extreme heat and blowing sands behind. Along with the thousands of tourists that share the desert every fall and winter that congest the roads and resturants.