Puyallup (Seattle, South Hill, Mercer Island: cul-de-sac, real estate, houses)

[Kristy]

Hello,

We moved to Puyallup about a year ago and I'm curious what folks opinions on this city are. I already know that traffic on Meridian is horrible more often than not! I'm asking so we can start to form some ideas where to move next. We'd like to move into a slightly larger house in the next couple of years. I have a son who will be starting 9th grade in the fall, it's still middle school here. Once he starts high school I'd rather not move out of the area. So any insight into areas in South Hill, close to Graham would be appreciated. Of course opinions on Puyallup in general would be appreciated

Kristy

[Vagus]

Huh?

If you've already lived there for a year, what more can we tell you? You should be giving us your opinions!

[Bookiejo]

If you have kids in school you will want to stay on South Hill. We live in Edgewood and have had a terrible time with PHS; they didn't even bother to send my son's transcripts to his college of choice. When I complained, the councelor just said "it doesn't really matter, no one has ever gone there from PHS"! I saw where the new Emerald Ridge was chosen as one of the top highschools in the nation.

[Prodigal Coug]

Ask me in six months. We are relocating to the area, and bought a home in the Sunrise area of South Hill. We visited Emerald Ridge and were pretty impressed. In addition, the kids in Sunrise will have a brand new elementary school this year, and a brand new junior high next to the high school opening next year.

It's definitely subdivision living, so if you want acreage it's no good, but we wanted a neighborhood where our kids can play with the neighbors in our cul-de-sac.

[GrowingoldonSH]

I hv lvd on SH since 1980. I have ownd two homes. I have 4 girls. 2 have graduated from Rogers HS and my twins will be seniors this year. Because we are in the county (outside of city limits) Pierce County Council didn't raise the fees to charge the builders for the new roads and schools that were needed. We now pay for those out of our homeowner taxes. Every year the Puyallup School District has us voting to raise our taxes for repairs or to assist with the building of schools. Right now Stahl Jr High is full and they are busing kids to Ballou Jr High. There are new schools under construction. Meridian is a very busy road. It takes an hour to get from the mall to 176th st between 430-630pm weekdays. If you have shopping to do at the mall on weekends it's best leave home before 10am so it doesn't take an hour to get there. Prices are high and so are the taxes. I stay here because my husband is a PHS graduate class of '70, his family and my girls were born and raised here. I guess you just get use to it. Everyone hear says it is time to move out but no one does.

[Kristy]

Thanks all for your replies. In response to Vagus, I'm asking because even having lived here a year, I'm still pretty unfamiliar with Washington in general. I know about the traffic problems and I know that Stahl seems to be a pretty good school. I was looking for opinions of folks who have been here for some time.

Growingoldinsh, thanks for the info. Is Rogers a good school? My son will be a 9th grader at Stahl next year and Rogers is where he is supposed to go for high school.

[etonmymind]

Kristy, I've been here six years, and I work in the real estate industry all around the Seattle Metro--so hopefully I can qualify my opinion with that. South Hill is your basic bedroom community to any metro area--it's crowded, not much in the way of interesting home or community design, and the traffic sucks. That said, it is a very family-oriented area with some great people. The schools are better than average, even with the crowding. I mean, it's not the Mercer Island school district, but hey, our houses cost 2/3 less.

Once you get plugged into activities/preschool/church/YMCA or whatever, there is a sense of community that makes me forget about all the negative things I can think of. I grew up in "paradise" and it has made me critical of almost anywhere else I've lived. But I have to say, I've been very happy on South Hill and I'm excited for my kids to grow up here for as long as we do stay. We live in the area around 176th and Meridian and it's a very nice place to live. With all of the newer strips going in, I find that I rarely have to venture north of 152nd or so unless I'm going out of town or downtown to church.

The other thing I like about South Hill is that it's pretty racially diverse considering it's a suburb. I think that is the effect of the joint military base nearby. It used to be that more families of color were found in Spanaway and Pacific Avenue closer to Lewis, but that diversity has started to spread onto South Hill, and it's great.

Of all the "affordable" South End areas, we chose Puyallup purposefully and I wouldn't choose another even knowing what I know now.

FYI, the school district lines are drawn so that if you are on the east side of Meridian, your kids will go to Emerald Ridge. The west side, Rogers. Oh, and as far as Graham goes, the school district (Bethel) is considered to be inferior to Puyallup (DON'T REAM ME, BETHELITES! Just what most people think, and the prices reflect that). They have a very hard time passing their bonds, to put it nicely. If you want land, Graham is an affordable place to get it, but if you are going to live in a subdivision, I would spring for the extra 30-50K and live on the Hill. Best to you!

[GrowingoldonSH]

Originally Posted by Kristy

Thanks all for your replies. In response to Vagus, I'm asking because even having lived here a year, I'm still pretty unfamiliar with Washington in general. I know about the traffic problems and I know that Stahl seems to be a pretty good school. I was looking for opinions of folks who have been here for some time.

Growingoldinsh, thanks for the info. Is Rogers a good school? My son will be a 9th grader at Stahl next year and Rogers is where he is supposed to go for high school.

Stahl is a good school. My kids have good memories of Junior High. They offer band and orchestra, drama, and limited sports. Mrs. Brennan is the BEST math teacher. Mr sliva is a lousy coach. Mr Gibson is a world geography and history clown. The kids love him.

As for the High Schools, they all have different agendas. They all use the same corriculum (oops) but they each offer different 3 year certificated programs. Puyallup High offers Automotive, and Culinary Arts. Rogers High has Building & Construction and the Arts, and Emerald Ridge has Aviation. Although where you live is slated to go to a particular school, if you are interested in a particular program you can talk to a counselor for a school change.