Central Washington

[509]

Wenatchee has always had steady growth from people moving over from the coast.

In fact, in our neighborhood there are 30% are from eastern Washington, 10% from other states, and a whopping 70% from the coast!! In the past five years, we have had subdivisions with over 500 lots built within a mile of our house. Almost every one of those homes was sold to a transplant from the coast.

Way back in 1980 is was rare to find somebody moving over from western Washington to eastern Washington. but as the quality of life has continued to decline over there it has been like a water hose that never stops running. They just keep coming and coming over!!!

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by PS90

Yes. Eastern Washington is not growing like crazy or attracting hordes of transplants, but that's a very different thing than it being a place where no one wants to be.

You summed it up nicely. Not everyone wants to live in a Seattle, a Tacoma, or a Portland. Those places are not inherently, automatically desirable to everyone. For some of us, the larger the city, the less appealing it is. I wouldn't live in NYC, for example, unless I were given a free house and an ungodly income. Nothing against NYC; obviously a lot of people love it and embrace it, and to them it's worth what they pay. To me, it would not be. And part of the reason people like living in eastern WA is exactly that: it isn't growing like crazy or attracting hordes of transplants.

What I disliked about Kennewick (lousy government, lack of civic spirit, grocery meanderthals, dippy drivers, Hanford mediocrity culture) was far easier for me to bear than what I disliked about Seattle (crime, insane housing costs, traffic, downtown bike couriers, seven months of rain, everything a struggle, culture of enabling bullies and jerks). There was less to do in the Dry Cities, but whatever there was to do was easily doable, and that was more important to me than eternal variety. I knew and mostly liked my neighbors, felt we had each others' backs, and appreciated the general friendliness and courtesy.