W. Pasco or Ocean Shores WA??? (Seattle, Bellevue: oceanfront, rental, how much)

[souix]

Sorry that you didn't have good experiences visiting the Tri-Cities. I do hope that you come back and give the community another try.

[MiaK]

Originally Posted by IvanInVegas

Hello, names Ivan. I currently live in Las Vegas NV with my wife. In short we hate it here. IM 22 shes 21... and we were in the tri-cities a couple weeks ago and liked it. We stayed in Kennewick and took a few drives to look at the areas of W Pasco and W Richland... We liked it... Hardly any traffic and the people are crazy nice... It was kinda scary at first LOL.

Anyway after alot of research we decided on W. Pasco, we want to rent and have a house built while we are there but while searching the net for rentals we found some property in Ocean Shores. Personally I would love living by the beach but I've never been there either so I dont know if this would be my best choice.

My kid should be born on July 1st :-D and I just want to find a good place to raise my kid. Where would any of you suggest we go?

Thanks for any replys in advance

Hi, West Pasco? I lived in West Pasco had a nice home there too, but it was still a long ways to get to places that are located in Kennewick Mostly, but there is the new freeway now, so it will be a good place for you to live just the same. I now have a home in Kennwick and am more find it a lot easier to get around plus when my daughter went to school I like the schools here better, she just graduated and is off to Calif. I did not like the schools in Pasco at all so before you actually buy there, please do check out the school system, some people like it, but a lot don't guess you just have to see weather you think it will be good or not. We ended up home schooling in the end though as none of them were up to our standards to be honest. I would say if you were going to just buy a home, you might move in the years to come when your child is old enough to go, but building sounds like a more perment option to me, so please do consider the education system, as it might not seem relevent now, but you will be surprised at how fast this time goes by and suddenly your faced with sending them to a school you might not want them to attend.
For a place to live to rasie your children in, you cannot beat tri-cities. I was born and raised in San Diego CA, and this was back when things were small and believe it or not San Diego was kind of like Tri-Cities until everyone decided they wanted to live there too, then it got bigger and bigger which is what Tri-Cities seems to be doing now, growing by leaps and bounds. I cannot believe the difference between how it was just 20 years ago, or even 10 years ago, it is now growing fast. The beach is a wonderful place to visit, but you don't want to rasie a family there these days, to many torists passing through all the time. It is fine when your not trying to raise a family, but way to expensive to live when your trying to get a good job as most jobs are seasonal and revolve around the hight and low seasons of tourist trade. One day maybe you can buy a summer home for yourselves, but starting out the Tri-Cites is a good place to raise your family as the crime rate is lower then most other places in this country, it is located in a good spot to get to Seattle or Spokane if you need a bigger city to go to but far enough away to make it a good place to be when you want a lower key. You don't freally need to drive a car here even as there is the greatest bus sytem around you can get to just about anywhere from Richland to Finley to even burbank and Walla Walla or Procer. You can catch night service for $1.75 or buy tickets at Fred Myers for $1.00 ten tickets to a book. It picks you up at your house and brings you back at the time you ask them too. You can go out for drinks or anywhere you wish to go after 7PM until 2AM. If you need to get to the hospital and don't have a car they will pick you up in an emergancy and pick you up. It is a great town to live in. When I first arrived here in 1978, I did not like it at all, but I got hired by Hanford, so I was here. In a year I decided I loved it and never wanted to leave. I like the kind of people (for the most part) that live here. Most people here have a small town mind set. They seem nosy to some that are not use to people caring about them, but that is just it, they care and want to be friendly and helpful all you have to do is ask and you can find lots of people to help sometimes to many LOL! One thing you will find here is blunt honesty and a real dislike for dishonesty, people like others and are very friendly but like their privacy as well. Some here just want to be left alone and be in their own little world which is also respected. If you wish for anymore information on anything all you have to do is ask be glad to answer what I can or point you in the right direction. I love to visit Las Vegas, but lord I would NOT want to live there. Take care and good luck to you both.

[Moon Waffle]

I've lived in W. Pasco for almost five years now. Tri-Cities is a nice area as others have mentioned. It might drive you a bit crazy if you need a "city fix" every once in a while because it is pretty isolated and the people (generally speaking) like that isolated lifestyle and don't seem to travel much. But as far as a comparison to Ocean Shores - to me it would boil down to the weather. Tri-Cities weather is hard to beat with the exception of the frequent high winds.

[Tonirose]

Hi,

I read about your notes (both the negatives and positives) on Tri cities. It is nice to hear that you like living there. How big is the airport? Are there lots of activities for kids? sports etc. Have you heard about their private school system, esp. Richland VS Kennewick. Did you have adificult time adjusting cming from a bigger city? It wil be nice to know more about the place.

Thanks

[bmsea]

Hi,

If you're looking at Ocean Shores as a nice community to raise kids, you might also want to give a strong look at Westport.

Depending on what you do, Westport has a lot of construction ongoing, as well as fishing jobs. The school district is excellent, especially for the younger crowd. There is a christian daycare, and even if you're not religious, its a great, reasonably priced day care (and even if your wife doesn't work, you'll need access to day care if you don't have family around).

Westport is one of the only coastal cities that is still affordable. No where else in the world will you be able to have a walk-to-beach home for less than $150,000 (less if you're handy).

It's an eclectic area, with trailer parks and condos within a stone's throw of each other. Shopping, services, amenities are better than average for such a small town (population 2,000). Police, fire, and infrastructure are all great.

[elainebenes]

We live on the Oregon coast, but drive through the tri-cities on our way to my wife's parents in Spokane.

The tri-cities area? Yuck! I just don't see it. There is NO beauty there whatsoever. The land is nothing but rock and grass, it's hot in the summer, and socked in by low clouds in the winter. The first thing that hits me driving through is how junky the whole place is. Then I notice the lack of trees.

Last, but not least, why would anyone want to live right next to Hanford?

True, it's hard to compare your two choices because they are so different. I'd pick the beauty of the coast.

[bmsea]

I agree with Elaine, I guess it depends on what kind of weather you like. I prefer the cool ocean breezes and am willing to live with the kind of harsh, gray winters.

I know lots of people that like it when the temperature tips over 90 degrees and is dry.

Some like mountains, some like deserts, some like the beach.

I like the beach, and I love the community I have found out here. (Westport, Grays Harbor County).

[Nancyv]

I've lived in the Tri-Cities all my life. I was born in Pasco. Although the weather here is perfect with all four seasons and the beautiful Columbia river running right through everything I know the heartbeat of this place, almost every nook and cranny, I know where the bad parts are and the good ones.

Given that, by the looks of this place and hearing about all the things you are close to and can do I still chose NOT to raise my kids there. Hanford is the main reason this place is here. The people that work there are well off, hence the HUGE houses. But if you don't work there than all there is is retail, Wal-Mart, Target and the like with many many restaurants. So in short you have the "money" and the almost poor. Not to many happy mediums.

The tri-cities and surrounding areas grow cherries and apples, therefore there are migrant workers and most of them end up staying. Pasco is over half hispanic. I have found them to be a set back on the quality of the cities here. Every gang is hispanic and one of our teachers was murdered in a close by town in a gang initiation. West Pasco is nice but only because of the new houses being built there...the city is still over 50% hispanic. The Pasco school is ranked one of the lowest. You can't get most jobs there if you are not bilingual. The Tri-cities on a whole is this way. I am waiting for the day when I can leave this place of low opportunity for my children's sake. I don't believe it is right that they should HAVE to learn spanish just to get a job here..fortunately and unfortunalty there is a need for police officers here and that is what my son want's to be...and the unfortunate part, he will have to learn spanish to insure a job in that line here.

SO, if you want to move here for the weather and recreations.. good move! The weather is GREAT, lots to do. If you want to raise your kids here, I wouldn't recommend it.

[mustang34]

Actually the medium is govt. jobs (teaching, police, fire, hospitals etc.) and there are industries here. And what is wrong with hispanics? Yes many are poor and cannot keep a perfect home and many cant speak English and therefore do not do well in school, hence poor rated schools. Also gangs are an uncommon thing, anywhere in the Tri-Cities. More common betwen Prosser and Yakima. It is true that being bilingual gives a better chance of getting a job, what is so bad about speaking spanish? It is useful all over the country now, its a good skill to have.

[Michijane]

i moved out here from philly so it was certainly culture shock to commute from the puget sound area to ocean shores for a beach day.....i think even on its worse tourist days it is NOTHING compared to Jersey (or even Seaside, OR). I think the pacific is great for skimboarding and maybe wading in to your waist, but you'd be fooling yourself if you think swimming / boogie boarding etc...is fun without a wetsuit. i like ocean shores for our little famiily day trips and maybe a 1 night stay. i couldn't imagine living there as the weather is so gray / rainy (much worse than the seattle area) but if you get a sunny day, it is the equal of any beach, honestly. But if my family is going away for a few days we prefer Long Beach, WA or Cannon Beach, OR. but i have to admit we chuckle about the "tourist" tag Ocean Shores has been saddled with - very low key compared to East Coast / CA, and OR beaches. Overall I like the town of Ocean Shores better than Westport, but I think the nicer beachers are indeed in the Westport area (but I think Long Beach is better than any beach in the Gray's Harbor area)