Tacoma??? (Seattle, Puyallup, Pacific: apartment, condo, crime)

[risa1230]

Hi,
I currently live in San Diego, but I am interviewing for a position with UW-Tacoma. Can anyone tell me about the city? I've never been there before and I have no idea what to expect. I was thinking about living in the stadium area of Tacoma because of the vintage apartment buildings. Is this a safe area of Tacoma? How accesible is Tacoma to Seattle? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[the dufferz]

Tacoma has a reputation for being higher in crime than many other cities. Areas such as hilltop have drive by shootings.

The city of Tacoma is pretty old, so if you want to get an old apt, then this is the place for you. The non rush hour commute between tacoma and seattle is about 20 minutes. The same distance where is heavy traffic can be an hour.

Parts of Tacoma still get the distinctive smell of the pulp mills, but not anything like the old days when you had to pluh your nose to drive through.

I do not live in Tacoma, so I will step aside the see what others say.

[risa1230]

Thanks! Does anybody know anything else about Tacoma?

[WazzuCoop21]

A couple years ago Tacoma was rated the worst big city to live. This was do to a combination of things such as crime, depression, suicide, etc. Although, I think it gets a bad rep. No offense, but I would never go to work for UW. You should look into a better school like Wazzu ; ) Go COUGS!!!!

[washinton native]

Originally Posted by kdizzle

A couple years ago Tacoma was rated the worst big city to live. This was do to a combination of things such as crime, depression, suicide, etc. Although, I think it gets a bad rep. No offense, but I would never go to work for UW. You should look into a better school like Wazzu ; ) Go COUGS!!!!

What's the smallest room in the world?
The Washington State Cougar Hall of Fame.

How many Cougars does it take to win a Rose Bowl?
We don't know and never will.

[risa1230]

WOW, so far I haven't heard anything good about Tacoma! I'm single in my late twenties, so I don't have to worry about kids and family. Is Tacoma really that bad??? Aren't there any nice parts??

[chris]

most of the area north of Stadium is the nicer part of Tacoma. I like it there, and if you're single it should work well for you.

The rest of Tacoma (outside of the revitalized downtown) within city limits, is well, not worthy of mention.

[Ira500]

Tacoma has made significant changes in recent years for the better. The area where UW Tacoma is has the Art Museum, the Glass Museum, the History Museum, and a streetcar line. There are plenty of parts of Tacoma that are perfectly nice, safe places to live. That said, stay away from the Hilltop area, and along the Puyallup River can smell funny from the paper mill.
But there are some great, scenic areas of Tacoma. The Proctor District is great!
Anywhere near Point Defiance is nice, Ruston has charm..some parts of town have nice water and mountain views.
Seattle folk have always put down Tacoma as being ugly smelly and unsophisticated, but that relly isn't the case at all anymore.
Tacoma is actually quite nice.

[sommerrayne]

Ok people, put your college rivalries aside - this isn't THAT bad of a place to live and I have lived all over the country. The traffic is JOKEABLE - sure there are rush hours but at least you are MOVING!
Just like any larger city - there are good neighborhoods and bad. You would not go live in LA and chose South Central as your home....same with Tacoma. Avoid Hilltop, avoid central and avoid South tacoma. Stick with the North end. Although Downtown is really booming with a ton of condo and apartment renovations in the past years.

I have no idea about jobs or specifically the university but this is a great place for arts, culture, and entertainment. Tons of museums, concerts, and galleries. You are a short 35 miles from Seattle where there are endless opportunities. If you are the outdoorsy type - you will never, I MEAN NEVER!, be bored. It is beautiful here.

I am not sure where you are moving from but the weather is QUITE unique. I grew up in Minnesota so the cold is nothing to me (and in fact I think people in parkas here are wimps!) but the gloom and rain (it does NOT rain as much as people say). The gloomy days do get to me.

As far as crime - see above paragraph on chosing your home carefully.

I think this is a place of insulation. A lot of people here grew up here, never left and now have grand opinons on how BAD it is here - it is NOTHING even compared to the "good" neighborhoods of LA or any other metropolitan city for that matter.

Visit, check it out, if it is for you - WELCOME to the glorious Pacific Northwest....if it isn't....Good luck with your search.

In your mid 20s and single - you would have NO problem here

Good luck!
Kelley

[brandonjs]

Yes, Tacoma is not the pristine city Seattle is. Any moron that has the ability of sight can drive up or down I-5, take just about any exit to Tacoma and Seattle and notice huge a difference in quality of life, living conditions, ect.

The economy and average income in seattle and tacoma are very different. For example we have the military bases and you have nice places such as Microsoft, Amazon, Boeing and others. Tacoma is a blue-collar/army town. These types of things make cities different.

Not everyone has the income to live in a money sucking place like Seattle, there are always people who can not afford it.

Seattle is not the center of the world, Seattle is the jewel of the northwest, lucky for you Tacoma is a great point of reference so you can reinforce what a grand city Seattle is. But why keep bringing it up? it makes you look insecure. There are plenty of other "crappy" towns in this state but you always insult Tacoma just because Tacoma is in close proximity of Seattle and its the third largest city in Washington you always pick on Tacoma to prove that you are better? in doing so repetitively you make yourselves look small minded and isolated.

Forget about Tacoma, Lets look at things with a broader perspective. At the world or national level Seattle is a rather small and unimpressive city. Yes its true, whether you realize it or not. Also there is nothing unusual about what Tacoma is or what happens here.

Seattle is a place for people with higher incomes, Tacoma is not. Not every person in this world has a high income, most people do not. Dont you know anything about the world you live in?
Tacoma is a crappy town but someone has to live there. There are many ****ty towns and people with lower income jobs in this country so just realize that, except it, suck on your lattes and shut the hell up!