Prescott vs Bend vs Spokane vs Colorado Springs :) (Fountain, Mountain View: condo, crime)

[Monaisa]

Hi everyone,

I’m a single mom of a 9-year old big baby and work from home as an accountant. I’ve been looking for a place to put some roots down. My dad is close to needing dialysis. I want him to move close to us, so I need to find a permanent home.

I moved to Asheville last summer as you can see in my previous posts. Asheville is beautiful with friendly people and so many things to do, but I absolutely hate the Buncombe county schools. So, schools are a big deal breaker. I never knew it could be so bad. The school system here hardly gives homework because they say the kids work enough during the school day. Yeah…No. I want a school that believes in giving homework and expects the best from the students. I want above average work to be recognized, whether it's my daughter or not. I want her to strive for more, not to settle for mediocrity. So sorry I went off the rails for a bit. I have thought about finding a private school here, but I moved here based on other circumstances/family/friends, and I just want to make a decision based on what I want and think is best.

I have narrowed it down to 4 cities…Prescott, Arizona; Bend, Oregon; Colorado Springs, Colorado; and Spokane, Washington. I’m going to post this in each of these state’s forums to reach the most people.

I have always loved the Pacific Northwest (in the summer). I've never been there in the winter. My Colorado Springs option is because I had a wonderful dream that we were there and we were loving it and happy. Then I looked into it and saw that it really is beautiful. I've read it has some of the best weather. I'd like to know if that's true. I think Prescott could be a good compromise, and my daughter was already accepted at a charter school there (BASIS Prescott).

I’d like to be able to get either a house or townhouse somewhere between $200-$300k in a good and safe neighborhood for myself and my 9-year-old daughter. I am very middle of the road politically and don’t want to feel judged by either side of the spectrum. One of my pet peeves is littering. I don’t want to see garbage lying around throughout my neighborhood. I’d like to be around people that care what their homes and neighborhood looks like. I have taught my daughter to choose her friends based on their character, if they are nice to you, if they have your same interests. My daughter doesn't see color or sexual orientation because of this. I don't want people's differences being pointed out to her in school.
So I'm not okay with "social justice" like a charter school here has as it's mission statement. On the other side of the coin, I don't want to be hounded into going to church on Sunday by people who want to "help" me. All I want to make clear is that I don't judge people based on their personal beliefs, and I don't expect it to be done to me.

I just want to give a good idea of who I am, what I want, and what kind of environment I want to be in. I desperately want to find this place. I hope there are people out there that can help me work through all this.


Here are some things I am most interested in knowing about:
1. What are the safest areas/neighborhoods/suburbs/etc.?
2. What are the ones I should keep away from?
3. What would you say the political atmosphere is like? Please give me as much information as you can on this one. I would like to know if an area is extreme left or extreme right? Who did most people vote for? Trump, Clinton, or even Gary Johnson.
4. Are people all in your business or are they friendly and laid back? Any personal experiences will help.
5. How much does it snow exactly? Like how many feet of snow can you expect to walk in and for how many days? I’m a bit skeptical of statistics I have found online.
6. How cold does it get in winter and for how long? Does it ever go below zero?
7. How hot does it really get? How high does the temp go in the summer? Does it get very humid or is it dry?
8. How are the public schools? Would a private school be preferable? Any input from other parents would be very appreciated.
9. How is the medical care? Is there a good hospital close by?
10. Do you think there is an area where I can find a house in my price range?

Thank you all for listening. I hope I haven't offended.

Isa

[Mike from back east]

Here are some things I am most interested in knowing about:
1. What are the safest areas/neighborhoods/suburbs/etc.?
A: IMO most of the city is safe. Look at the crime maps found here.

2. What are the ones I should keep away from?
A: IMO the southeast area of town, along Fountain Blvd. Do not confuse Fountain Blvd with the town of Fountain just south of town.

3. What would you say the political atmosphere is like? Please give me as much information as you can on this one. I would like to know if an area is extreme left or extreme right? Who did most people vote for? Trump, Clinton, or even Gary Johnson.
A: IIRC the people of El Paso County generally vote GOP. Parts of the city will vote DEM. Area is about 60% conservative voting.

4. Are people all in your business or are they friendly and laid back? Any personal experiences will help.
A: Mostly laid back, a lot of live and let live.

5. How much does it snow exactly? Like how many feet of snow can you expect to walk in and for how many days? I’m a bit skeptical of statistics I have found online.
A: Most snow are a few inches and melts out quickly. Every few years there's a big storm. We were there 11 years and it's not a big deal. The big deal are the hail storms in summer, they can ruin a car quickly so it's best if your house has a garage and you use it.

6. How cold does it get in winter and for how long? Does it ever go below zero?
A: It can get below zero a few nights of the year. Air is dry so the cold isn't bone-chilling like humid areas. Temps change a lot, there's no month-long deep freezes in the city. Daytime temps in the 40s with sunshine feel very comfortable.

7. How hot does it really get? How high does the temp go in the summer? Does it get very humid or is it dry?
A: Mostly in the 80s. Rarely in the 90s. Rarely gets humid, but can get a bit humid some days in summer when storms are around in the afternoons. Some people don't have a/c, but most do and need it sparingly.

8. How are the public schools? Would a private school be preferable? Any input from other parents would be very appreciated.
A: Several excellent school districts, we have many threads on them, check the index of key threads or use our search tool with a district number or name of a particular school; we've covered this area A LOT in 13 years. Better districts, from north to south, are D38, D20, a good deal of the main city in district D11, D12, D8, and some schools out east of town in D49.

9. How is the medical care? Is there a good hospital close by?
A. Very good. There are four major hospitals to include a Children's Hospital on the far north end of town ICW Memorial Hospital System.

10. Do you think there is an area where I can find a house in my price range?
A: Possibly. $300k is getting hard to find in SFHs, but THs might be found. Use www.realtor.com to find some. See if this link works for you. These are the THs in COLO SPGS under $300K. The more you spend the nicer the place.


MISCELLANEOUS
- IMO it's better by far to live in an area served by COLO SPGS Utilities aka CSU. They are city-owned and their rates are a good 20% cheaper than comparable cities along the I-25 corridor. We loved them, their service was great. They provide gas, electric, water and sewerage services, all on one bill. If you go outside the main service area you may be dealing with multiple firms at higher prices.

- Most of the main city area has good internet for those who work from home.

- Newer areas are along the Powers Blvd corridor on east side of town. Along Powers you get great shopping, eats, movies, services and two main hospitals.

- I25 is busy day and night which generates a lot of noise so I always recommend being at least a mile away from it.

[Vision67]

OP: It's useful to separate and think about your list as a series of "musts" and "wants."

It seems to me that your musts are a great school and housing within your budget.

If I were you I'd focus first on finding the best school.

[Monaisa]

wow Mike! thank you so much for that! you have no idea how grateful I am for that useful and specific information!

Vision67, yes that exactly what i did. i found a private school (Colorado Springs School). the tuition is quite high at about $16k but 60% are said to get financial aid. I also have a list of from schooldigger.com. there are 2 charters in that list. i agree with you that the school is most important. i think it's because of the bad experience i had here. my daughter went to a charter in Miami where I am from originally. she lost so much knowledge at this public school. not sure i mentioned that homework takes her no more than 10 minutes, if that. no grammar, no spelling tests, no geography. i won't even start on the math!

here is my list. they are all districts 11, 12, and 20 like Mike mentioned in his post.
- Cheyenne Mountain Elementary School, Chipeta Elementary School, Mountain View Elementary School, Broadmoor Elementary School, Chinook Trail Elementary School, Woodmen-Roberts Elementary School, Academy For Advanced And Creative Learning, Academy International Elementary School, The Classical Academy Charter, Gold Camp Elementary School

I am just very worried about public schools at the moment. at least here, this social justice theme is quite popular. don't get me wrong I am all for social justice. i just don't think that word accurately describes it in practice.

niche.com gave her current school an A- in academics and an A in teachers. so i'm wary of trusting these sites plus the fact that there isn't a standard exam that cover all the states makes it more difficult.

i actually forgot to ask if they follow common core math? i can see that actually being a deciding factor, believe it or not. i will definitely start looking through the threads for the schools information.

thanks again for all this help and information. it is sincerely appreciated! i think i would love colorado springs' weather. we prefer cold over heat. i know some heat is expected of course, but you can imagine what it was like in Miami. lol. medical sounds good. my dad will need that. and "live and let live" is exactly what i'm looking for.

[BornintheSprings]

Had some friends that went to CSS its an amazing school from what they told me. They made life long friends and they all went to great universities since the education is top notch.

[Vision67]

OP: My kids all graduated from Rampart HS in district 20. We live in that area.

The IB program at Rampart has worked well. Many graduates get into the best colleges. Mine certainly did.

[StealthRabbit]

With a 9 yr old...(girl or boy?) I would chose CoS (I have relatives living in, (currently) and have looked / considered all your choices)
1) Prescott very 'senior centric', high growth, plenty HOT)
2) Bend... is OREGON Group think state, + high growth ($$$ + growing pains) and really trendy (CA trust fund babies = spoiled)
3) Spokane - can be pretty seedy, but some rural towns nearby + ID are nice, but difficult for your dad and kid to enjoy.
(There are many 'better' places in WA (+ income tax free state) (Bellingham, Olympia and Vancouver for starters))

in COS...
There are many nice communities, choose one that will keep your commute for dad and child to a minimum.

If dad passes by the time your kid is in High School / age 15... consider WA State options for FREE FT college instead of High School (since 1990). Really is a nice program, especially avoiding the drama of public school social issues for moving families.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_Start

You will find the western and Mtn states quite tolerant and good QoL (UT - YMMV, but generally quite nice communities).

Colorado is currently quite polarized (Political battleground state), It raises the feathers of many, usually not worth the strife / battle / disruption. Be prepared for this. After 30 yrs there... I have chosen another state as domicile (for last 30 yrs). I keep business interests in CO and am there monthly, but prefer to 'visit' than to live there. It has changed too much and locals (who formed the state and purposed to make it fair) have been displaced from CO. (Special interests take over the development, growth and eventually the vote, then it becomes 'Their State', and they are very proud of that.) Just the price of progress in any desirable spot.

[DrDog]

The only place I have run into SJW’s is on this forum. Lol. Yet to meet one in person here, although have met some anti-vaxxers which may be worse.

Although Colorado Springs leans conservative, the state, especially our socialist governor, leans strongly liberal, which will have some negative impact, especially on healthcare.

The only negative thing I’ve found here is the number of people who are happy spending their days high on marijuana and not employed or barely employed. Of course, you probably find that everywhere.

[violinist]

District 12 is very highly rated and very focused on academics. My kids go to Cheyenne Mountain Elem and I can tell you there is basically no talk of social justice that I’m aware of, they do use common core guidelines for math, and there is definitely homework. Overall I’m very happy with the school and love that it is a smaller school (only 2 classes per grade) and is a close knit community. The homes in D12 are expensive but there may be some townhomes in the $300ks? Have you looked on Zillow and used the schools filter?

Something to be aware of is that even if you buy a home in the area zoned for Cheyenne Mountain Elementary, or any school in D12, placement is not guaranteed if there’s not space. I had not heard of that before we moved here. Another issue is that many of the neighborhoods in D12 are built on expansive soils and/or possible landslide zones (google for articles and more info on this).

Colorado Springs is a lovely area and I’m sure you’d love it if you move here. Good luck!

[BornintheSprings]

Originally Posted by violinist

District 12 is very highly rated and very focused on academics. My kids go to Cheyenne Mountain Elem and I can tell you there is basically no talk of social justice that I’m aware of,

I'm pretty sure eventually the curriculum will teach things like the civil rights act and Martin Luther King.