Boise vs. Spokane (Nampa, Coeur d'Alene, Caldwell: houses, community college, to live in)

[usnretired]

Believe me folks, ANYTHING in the great Northwest,(I'm retired military and did a tour in the Seattle/Pudget Sound area-Bremerton,WA) is lightyears ahead of where I grew up,(LOUSY-ana!) You want lots of crime,(N.O. ranked murder capitol of the USA-per capita!-AGAIN!) bad air quality,(lots of petrochemical plants along the Mississppi river), pot-holed streets, the sweet smell of urine, gawd-awfull humidity and mosuito infested marshy landscapes- then LOUSY-ana,(uhm, Louisiana that is) has got ya' covered! I've give my left testicle to get back up to the Northwest,- Boise, Spokane, Bend, Couer d' Alene-, wherever, if it means getting out of this place.
Cheers!

[Torrie]

Originally Posted by usnretired

Believe me folks, ANYTHING in the great Northwest,(I'm retired military and did a tour in the Seattle/Pudget Sound area-Bremerton,WA) is lightyears ahead of where I grew up,(LOUSY-ana!) You want lots of crime,(N.O. ranked murder capitol of the USA-per capita!-AGAIN!) bad air quality,(lots of petrochemical plants along the Mississppi river), pot-holed streets, the sweet smell of urine, gawd-awfull humidity and mosuito infested marshy landscapes- then LOUSY-ana,(uhm, Louisiana that is) has got ya' covered! I've give my left testicle to get back up to the Northwest,- Boise, Spokane, Bend, Couer d' Alene-, wherever, if it means getting out of this place.
Cheers!

LOL!, ok how do you really feel Very funny post, thanks for making me laugh.

[Wellness]

Originally Posted by arianiah

Boise wins hands down...I can truly say this because I was raised in washington and after I married I lived in boise and lived in spokane and by comparison..Boise is the best choice to live. Cleaner, Safer, Nicer...I can't stress how difficult it was in spokane to find a neighborhood that we thought wasn't rough. In boise-most neighborhoods are wonderful-everyone takes care of their homes/yards alot better than those that live in spokane-we drove everywhere investigating where to live and Liberty Lake or South SPokane Valley past 36th were the only two options at all that we felt were nice, clean and safe. The only thing good we discovered about spokane was Green Bluffs and not much of a rush hour traffic drive compared to Boise. You couldn't pay us to move back.

I honestly thought Spokane was much nicer than Boise. You have the beautiful Pondarosa Pines all around you and Boise is flat and mostly brown.

[stingraynm]

Originally Posted by Wellness

I honestly thought Spokane was much nicer than Boise. You have the beautiful Pondarosa Pines all around you and Boise is flat and mostly brown.

As posters on this forum have demonstrated, it really depends who you ask, and more so what their preferences/tolerances are for social and ecological proximity.

Contrary to your 'city color' notions, Spokane's conifers are mostly enjoyed by peripheral neighborhoods and remote suburbs of Spokane. The city is rather densely packed.

Boise, on the other hand, may have desert all ways but north (great quick access to conifer-filled wilderness there, by the way), but the area is actually historically renowned for its frequency of trees. In fact, the name Boise is derived from "les bois", references to the river valley of trees that natives, explorers, trappers, and colonists were elated to find after trekking through the desert east of Boise via the Oregon Trail. The origin of the Boise River's - and consequentially City's - nomenclature is up for unverifiable speculation, but the area has been referenced specifically for its trees for as long as human presence has been documented. The most popularly accepted idea involves the proclamation of a French-Canadian guide, but there is some evidence earlier pioneers translated into French a name given by the natives.

Anyway, history aside, locals and visitors today recognize that the ascription was not given in vain. Overlooks from the foothills in the north and east, all the way to the Bench in the west, reveal a lush 'arborscape'. Extensive parks and many yards blend together to maintain the famous imagery that originally brought relief to travellers and came to be modernly known as The City of Trees. The extensive network of parks is known as the Greenbelt, and that name is all too apt. The riparian ecosystem of the Boise River beautifies much of that worthwhile jaunt. Driving down Harrison Blvd or via any back roads from Warm Springs and Park Center will treat the eyes to a refreshing canopy in the Summer and a cornucopia of color in the Fall. Even the foothills in their brown of extreme seasons turn a majestic green through Spring and early Summer.

[TohobitPeak]

Originally Posted by Wellness

I honestly thought Spokane was much nicer than Boise. You have the beautiful Pondarosa Pines all around you and Boise is flat and mostly brown.

Boise is neither flat nor brown. The city is in a valley and the foothills rise to the mountains above the city. I spend a lot of time mountain biking in the foothills along with hundreds upon hundreds of other Boiseans enjoying the extensive trails and wooded gulches in those foothills. They are a great recreational asset that kind of sets Boise apart from many cities.

Stingraynm gave a great explanation. I feel from experience that Boise is the most lush and green inland mountain west city.

One of the largest national forests in the nation begins a few miles North of Boise in the mountains and is a vast forest full of Ponderosa Pines. The Ponderosa Pine Scenic Drive begins a few miles outside of Boise city limits. Boise has access to amazing desert scenery and has easy access to alpine mountains and forests. A person just needs to open their eyes to notice and educate themselves on the extreme variety of landscape around the Boise area. A drive on I-84 through the valley is not the way to gain a perspective of the beautiful scenery around Boise.

[pw72]

For even MORE fun, visit the Washington State thread, where there is a "Spokane vs. Boise" thread! Love it, dueling theads on different state posts!

[boi2socal]

I say Boise wins because it has more than double the posts than the Spokane board.

[boi2socal]

I don't know why and it is hard to explain or get people to understand but traffic is annoying in Boise. This can be attributed to growth and poor planning. However, I wouldn't say it is a good enough reason not to move to the Boise Area.

[stingraynm]

Originally Posted by boi2socal

I don't know why and it is hard to explain or get people to understand but traffic is annoying in Boise. This can be attributed to growth and poor planning. However, I wouldn't say it is a good enough reason not to move to the Boise Area.

Yeah, it was pretty all right when I was growing up, but my last few visits do reveal a worsening situation. Still, aside from rush hour, the I-184 connector does a great job of making the City and "metro area" pretty accessible to one another. Here in Vegas, they're just now working on expanding the I-15, an extremely belated project that has made traffic north of the US-95 junction a nightmare.

Boise planning widened I-84 at a good time. They still under-estimated what would happen in Meridian and Eagle, though, let alone what wouldn't happen in Nampa/Caldwell that pretty much forced excessive people into that commute. State and Chinden suffered for this, too.

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by RetiredChef

I have lived just North of Spokane for almost 5 years - before that it was 30+ years in Los Angeles / San Bernardino Counties. I have also lived in Miami, New York, Nashville, Hawaii and parts of Europe. Before we moved to Spokane we (my wife and I) spent 4 years traveling (on & off) across the US, Canada, Puerto Rico and New Zealand to find a place to retire to. After about 3 years we narrowed down the choice to an area from Spokane east to Missoula OR New Zealand.

We also looked at Boise early in our search we even went there and planed on spending about 5 days but after 3 days we left, ruling Boise out. There were many reasons and these are just some.

#1 Air Quality - was an issue when we were looking there, Boise suffers from some severe inversion layers (worst then LA’s) that cause the smog to build up and haze out the city. Winter, when people are burning wood turns into a terrible time with many yellow flag days. The air was bad 4 years ago and it has only gotten worse, even the NY Times just wrote a recent article on it.

#2 Desert Heat - Boise is actually the northern part of a desert and is a very brownish city to look at, the climate in the summer can get very oppressive with quite a few days topping 100+ degrees, while this can happen in Spokane it is not the norm as it is in Boise.

#3 City Infrastructure - I am not a person who loves the government intruding into my life, but there are certain areas where the government should have a say so and one of them is sensible planning for cities inevitable growth. A simple drive around Boise will show you that the cooks are running kitchen while the chef is out to lunch. You will find that the rapid growth Boise saw in 1996-2003(7) was unregulated, housing tracts with no street lights, sidewalks in some not in others, illogical road designs, no central planning of major thoroughfares, and dismal bike lanes and very little if any public transportation and when there is it is a disaster.

#4 Traffic - Since Boise took a hands off approach to planning they are paying a very heavy price in massive congestion, there are not enough on or off ramps of I 84 commutes from Meridian that were 10 minutes 5 years ago are up to 45 minutes today. Thoroughfares are jammed, and streets are in disrepair.

#5 Education - There are NO real community colleges in Boise and only 1 University, compare that to Spokane that has 2 CC’s and 3 Universities. Plus when you take the dismal high school placement of seniors into top tiered colleges plus their overall under performing on standardized tests plus the lack of a strong AP programs, Boise’s educational system seems to be one of the most antiquated and poorest performing in the country.

We were moving to escape LA so this is how we viewed Boise at the time.

LA has smog Boise has possibly worse - Spokane has none.
LA is a desert and the inland areas can get oppressively hot, Boise the same - Spokane is cooler in summer and is not considered a desert.
LA suffered greatly from lack of central planning in the 60’s-early 80’s - Boise is the mirror image of those failures today - Spokane also suffered but started getting it’s act together about 1998 and now they are more proactive in the design and implementation of a livable city for all.
LA has bad traffic, Boise has bad traffic and it’s getting worse, Spokane’s traffic is moderate in some areas and negligible in others.
LA’s education system is in shambles with under performing schools all over, Boise seems to be a mirror image, Spokane has two school districts that continually rank in the top 100 in the nation, plus Spokane has a very high rate of placing graduating seniors into top tier universities.
Boise is a mini LA with none of the entertainment venues or activities that LA has to offer so one must really ask - Why move?

The good things about Boise:

There was more culture and nightlife then Spokane, however I have heard that downtown has been hit hard by this recession and many restaurants have closed, Spokane has not suffered as much. If this is not true then Boise has more and better dining options.

Ample outdoor recreation activities, about the same as Spokane but good skiing is more accessible in Boise.

Nice parks

Other comments, not necessarily good or bad,

Boise is more conservative then Spokane.
The people in Boise seemed more intrusive (some might call this personal and like it) into your affairs then Spokane‘s Live and Let live mentality, this is very subjective, but it was our impression.
Very high population of Mormons.

Informative post.