Advice on some areas (Tacoma, Olympia: to rent, low crime, how much)

[chattykat]

My family and I (kids age 9 and 15 boys) are moving from Marysville, Ca to Wa. We have friends who live in McKenna as well as Spanaway. My question is how is Mc Kenna as far as crime, drugs etc and how about Spanaway near 224th and 46th st near Bethel HS. Also we were looking at Graham, Puyallup and Gig Harbor. I will be working in Tacoma, and my husband will be all over. We want to be kinda more in a country setting with in an neighborhood but not so close to neighbors you can reach out and topuch them. Any advice as far as good parts of Spanaway or others like closure to freeway or further out like near the Wal-Mart/Fred Meyers on 224th?

Help is appreciated to very impressionable boys want to keep away from drugs and gangs as much as possible. We will be renting for a short time as we are selling our Ca home.

[cmac2992]

If schools and safety are your main conserns i would say sammamish is your best bet, but the average house is 600k, a little too expensive for me at least

[jwb123]

You've gotta be kidding me - she's going to be working in Tacoma, and you are recommending Sammamish to live?

[gallo]

Originally Posted by chattykat

My family and I (kids age 9 and 15 boys) are moving from Marysville, Ca to Wa. We have friends who live in McKenna as well as Spanaway. My question is how is Mc Kenna as far as crime, drugs etc and how about Spanaway near 224th and 46th st near Bethel HS. Also we were looking at Graham, Puyallup and Gig Harbor. I will be working in Tacoma, and my husband will be all over. We want to be kinda more in a country setting with in an neighborhood but not so close to neighbors you can reach out and topuch them. Any advice as far as good parts of Spanaway or others like closure to freeway or further out like near the Wal-Mart/Fred Meyers on 224th?

Help is appreciated to very impressionable boys want to keep away from drugs and gangs as much as possible. We will be renting for a short time as we are selling our Ca home.

Living in Spanaway, I’d be more worried about Rainier blowing and being killed by the lahar rather than the school district. I am just kidding. OK, maybe I'm not.

[bodah]

Definately consider Puyallup and Gig Harbor of all the areas you mentioned. Those would be the best areas.

[princessvanessa]

Puyallup South Hill to Graham -- Meridian (rush hour TRAFFIC HELL)
Spanaway -- Highway 7 (rush hour TRAFFIC HELL)
McKenna -- I-5 to Tacoma (I-5 in front of Tacoma dome is torn up and we are living with the "Tacoma Wiggle" due to all the construction, its a rush hour MESS)
Gig Harbor -- Hiway 16 (the new bridge opens July 07) The eastbound toll for the first year (with a window transponder sticker) is $1.75 each eastbound trip. After July 08 the toll will be $3.00 and will go up in the future. Also, the old Narrows bridge will be under a complete road deck overhaul so all the traffic will be squeezed onto the new bridge. i.e.--no less traffic headache for some time to come.

You might try looking on the north side of highway 512 between Tacoma and Puyallup (I'm thinking Midland). There are more back roads (north of hwy 512) that don't seem to be as congested with traffic and is more country-like.

Watch for grafitti in the area--it is more gang related now.

Take your time looking and buying a house. For sure drive there during what would be afternoon rush hour traffic. My ex and I almost bought on the Peninsula until we got caught up in the afternoon traffic and decided that we preferred this side of the drink.

[magrack]

Originally Posted by chattykat

My family and I (kids age 9 and 15 boys) are moving from Marysville, Ca to Wa. We have friends who live in McKenna as well as Spanaway. My question is how is Mc Kenna as far as crime, drugs etc and how about Spanaway near 224th and 46th st near Bethel HS. Also we were looking at Graham, Puyallup and Gig Harbor. I will be working in Tacoma, and my husband will be all over. We want to be kinda more in a country setting with in an neighborhood but not so close to neighbors you can reach out and topuch them. Any advice as far as good parts of Spanaway or others like closure to freeway or further out like near the Wal-Mart/Fred Meyers on 224th?

Help is appreciated to very impressionable boys want to keep away from drugs and gangs as much as possible. We will be renting for a short time as we are selling our Ca home.

How much time are you willing to spend on your commute?

That's the real rub when working in Tacoma and choosing to live in any outlying areas,

The highway infrastructure has some problems: natural bottlenecks along wuth the fact that there are too few roads with too many people vying for the same space.

From 224th and 46th there is basically one way to get to Tacoma; Mountain Highway to Highway 512. Mountain Highway is not a Highway...many traffic signals and a densely populated area.

You have a couple of options to hop over to Spanaway Loop Road after 176th...less traffic signals, but you're still going to have to connect to 512 or take surface streets all the way into your work place.

Many people do it so it's not like it can't be done.

Mckenna used to be a sleepy little town out on the praire, but is growing by leaps and bounds as people move out from the Olympia core...horrible commute.

Closer to Tacoma is an area you might want to look at... Summit...it's not a town, but rather a geographic area between Tacoma and Puyallup. Most of it has Puyallup addresses and is in the Puyallup school district which has a better reputation than Tacoma schools.

The area is much less urban, with larger lots or on properties with acreage, but yet close enough to make the commute bearable.

All that being said, Gig Harbor or north Tacoma/Browns Point might be the best fit.

[katsin]

I live in Spanaway (ghetto). It's not a good place to raise kids. I would stay out of this area. We are moving. If you're looking for country, try Buckley. Easy access to Tacoma.

[michiganderEm]

Hi,
My husband has an interview tomorrow for a company in Sumner, can anyone tell me anything about the city? I looked at homes and there much more expensive than they are here in the Midwest but it seems that's the case all over Washington.
We have two children (16 & 2) and our older boy is very involved in sports and we need a good school district as well as a low crime rate and not city more country suburb setting.
We are going to need to rent until our home sells here so we would like to rent where we are going to buy to prevent moving our son to yet another school. Any info would be so greatly appreciated.