Daily Life in University Place/Tacoma? (Spokane, Puyallup: skatepark, house, neighborhoods)

[ness]

I am curious about what people's daily life consists of in western WA. I know it will vary. Husband and I are late 20s-early30s and having kids soon. Like..what is your typical day? Just trying to visualize what life would be like there. I guess I kinda have an idealistic picture of strolling through beautiful green trees and sitting and having coffee with fellow moms, etc. How realistic am I being?

[princessvanessa]

Originally Posted by ness

I am curious about what people's daily life consists of in western WA. I know it will vary. Husband and I are late 20s-early30s and having kids soon. Like..what is your typical day? Just trying to visualize what life would be like there. I guess I kinda have an idealistic picture of strolling through beautiful green trees and sitting and having coffee with fellow moms, etc. How realistic am I being?

I am 54 with no kids (hence no grandkids) but have lived in University Place for 14 years.
University Place has a pretty good parks/recreation program for the summer. There are all kinds of kids activities and I would think that you would get to know some of the other moms through the activities.
We have Curran Park which is an old apple orchard donated to the city by the Currans. You can "adopt-an-apple tree" or turn out for volunteer trimming/cleaning. There are certainly plenty of coffee shops--including two Starbucks.
As your kids get older there is a great skatepark on Cirque and Bridgeport. In the same park is a baseball park. We have other nice parks as well. I haven't noticed if there are any with play equipment (i.e. swings, teeter totters, etc). There is a park with some equipment on 19th about a block east of Bridgeport (not sure if this is UP or Tacoma--as it is close to the city boundary line).
We are losing some of our greenbelts to housing development, but there are still trees.
We have most of the amenities that you could want in the way of grocery stores, pharmacies, fast food, a few restaurants, etc. etc.
You could also look into Tacoma's Metro Parks Recreation. I get a flier in my mailbox every four months. The cost to non-Tacomans is usually $5 or $10 more - but pretty reasonably priced anyway.
For sure get involved with your kids school - you will meet other parents about the same age as you and your husband and you might make some new "couple" friends.
I think you would like University Place.

[WeLoveFircrestWA]

Hello there! I really adore University Place. It is a wonderful city! I live right next to it in Fircrest, which in my opinion is even better!

Sorry if I sound like a cheeseball but I have to tell you a little background. I am originally from a small town in Texas. There, state and hometown pride abounds. Everyone knows the population of their town and is involved in the community and there is a real sense of pride in that. So, I moved to Spokane and finished highschool and lived there for 10 years. I really noticed that people were not that involved in the community there and kept to themselves. Then I moved to Tacoma a couple years ago and kind of got the same feeling but worse. Then I happend upon this fabulous town of Fircrest. It is a town inside a town and is bordering on University Place and Tacoma. It is the most charming wonderful town. There are awesome parks, shopping, parades, American Flags fly on every lamp post downtown, the schools are the best around and on and on.

I am an at home mommy to two preschoolers. Today we went to the local wading pool in Fircrest. From 12:30-4 it is open to our residence only although I have never seen them check ID's at the door. The first time we went there I was looking for someone to pay. It was so clean and well cared for I couldn't believe it was free...well the taxes are high but you get the idea.

Last weekend we went to the parade. It was so small town USA and very charming! The parade people even threw out candy and it was fun.

We have a couple Starbucks around here but I enjoy some of the locally owned places better. There is a huge new high end retail development going into downtown UP. Pottery Barn is rumored to be a tenant.

Anyway, email me if you are moving here so we can hang out! Where are you coming from?

Molly

[ness]

Originally Posted by WeLoveFircrestWA

Hello there! I really adore University Place. It is a wonderful city! I live right next to it in Fircrest, which in my opinion is even better!

Sorry if I sound like a cheeseball but I have to tell you a little background. I am originally from a small town in Texas. There, state and hometown pride abounds. Everyone knows the population of their town and is involved in the community and there is a real sense of pride in that. So, I moved to Spokane and finished highschool and lived there for 10 years. I really noticed that people were not that involved in the community there and kept to themselves. Then I moved to Tacoma a couple years ago and kind of got the same feeling but worse. Then I happend upon this fabulous town of Fircrest. It is a town inside a town and is bordering on University Place and Tacoma. It is the most charming wonderful town. There are awesome parks, shopping, parades, American Flags fly on every lamp post downtown, the schools are the best around and on and on.

I am an at home mommy to two preschoolers. Today we went to the local wading pool in Fircrest. From 12:30-4 it is open to our residence only although I have never seen them check ID's at the door. The first time we went there I was looking for someone to pay. It was so clean and well cared for I couldn't believe it was free...well the taxes are high but you get the idea.

Last weekend we went to the parade. It was so small town USA and very charming! The parade people even threw out candy and it was fun.

We have a couple Starbucks around here but I enjoy some of the locally owned places better. There is a huge new high end retail development going into downtown UP. Pottery Barn is rumored to be a tenant.

Anyway, email me if you are moving here so we can hang out! Where are you coming from?

Molly

Molly....so nice to meet you. DH and I are coming up there this weekend to checkout various areas. We will definitely take a serious look at Fircrest. Sounds wonderful. DH and I currently live in Monrovia, which is a small-ish town in the San Gabriel Valley (near Pasadena) in southern california. DH works for REI so we want to check out WA in the event a good job opport. opens up for him up there. The things I love about where I live now are the adorable little downtown that is walking distance from my house, the fact that family and friends are close by, my historic house, etc. so I'd like to try and duplicate some of that. Things I hate about down here are: immense heat in the summer time, dryness and drought, smog, traffic, congestion, we constantly feel broke b/c it is so expensive to live here. = ( Why I am soooo excited about WA: trees, greenery, water, milder temperatures, better quality of life, good schools. = )

Hope we can be neighbors! I'll PM you my email so we can keep in touch.

[WeLoveFircrestWA]

Hi there! I am so glad you will be coming up to visit this weekend. That is really great. The weather should be nice. I have a friend who works at REI and lives in Tacoma.

I assume you will be exploring your housing options too! There is more to choose from in the UP area as well as some wonderful areas in Tacoma (there really are great neighborhoods, not just gangsta' places like everyone says) LOL!

Molly
I'll PM you my contact info!

[PNWPNWPNW]

I realize this thread is ancient but wanted to post in case others are considering...

I grew up in Fircrest/UP. My family comprise a few of the approximately 500 non-white people who live there. We experienced significant racial discrimination. For example, neighborhood families didn't let me play with other children my age because they thought we would steal and eat their pets (my family is asian.) They considered my family Satanic because we had a stone pagoda in the front yard. When a black family tried to buy a house in our development, the owner kept raising the price until they gave up... even though they were SELLING the house and wouldn't have to live next door to a black couple! When I would go around selling school fundraisers or girl scout cookies door to door, I had the police called on me by multiple people for trespass, at age 8-10. I guess there might be nice parks, but again someone would always call the cops when my mother and I went. We had better luck at Fort Steilacoom a few miles away. For some reason we were never bothered at Titlow Beach though. And one cannot deny the awesomeness of the new skate park.

The community is bikeable and walkable for leisure if you enjoy power walking through identical cul de sacs and a ton of hills. Forget about walking to coffee shops, errands, etc (with the exception of a tiny, limited commercial strip.) Expect to drive everywhere, and there are a TON of hills.

Most of the residents are geriatric and will vote against EVERY school funding measure that comes to the community board. FYI, UP is its own school system, whereas Fircrest is part of the Tacoma school system. UP's public schools are considered pretty good, Fircrest has an ok elementary then you're funneled into other area jr. high and high schools... it seems a high percentage of people in Fircrest can afford to send their kids to private school, and then they also vote against school funding (along with the geriatrics), so you end up with fairly crappy public schools.

If a historic house is important to you, you'll have better luck in central and downtown Tacoma, Ruston, etc. Anyone who wants a small town downtown feel in this area would be best advised to check out Ruston or Steilacoom, maybe downtown Gig Harbor - maybe even downtown Puyallup. UP and Fircrest is mostly ticky tacky developer McMansions and some 1970s-1990s mid end stock that's just out of date. MAYBE you can find something cool around Day Island or the more waterfronty part of UP toward Titlow and Narrows Bridge.

Overall I can only suggest Fircrest and UP if you are affluent, white, conservative, and Christian. If you are, then start looking - it's probably great for you! Anyone else, beware. You have to be ALL four. No affluent black conservative christians. No affluent white liberal christians. No low-income conservative white christians. No affluent white conservative atheists. All four!