From Bay Area, Live in Portland considering another move (high crime, homes)

[imarestless1]

Hello;My family and I are currently living in Portland (originally from Bay Area) and for the most part we really don't like this city. We considered Tacoma, but I've been reading aout its high crime, so I hesitated with that city. Can anyone recommend anywhee?? Heres a rundown of what we did and didn't like about the Bay Area and Portland. Portland- Likes- The weather (love the cooler weather and change of seasons!);The green; The homespun quality of downtown portland; Dislikes: Sex clubs; too religous; no nice restaurants (and we've been to many here, they might've been good once, and when we return they are awful!) awful roads; coast is not easy to get to. Bay Area-Likes: Great roads; Great restaurants; Loved how close san francisco, lake tahoe, and the coast was; Dislike: too expensive; we got terrible allergies therel So can anyone recommend a city that we should check out based on our likes and disikes? We really want to stay on the west coast. Thanks!

[Jimrob1]

Have you been up to the Seattle area since moving to Portland. I think that region might be of more interest to you, since the Northwest climate is appealing to you. Yes Tacoma has some serious problems and you would probably be better off not considering that region. Like anywhere Tacoma has some good and not so good areas though. You could try Bellevue for one, a close in eastern suburb of Seattle. I don't know how close you need to be to the city. There is the Ballard area of Seattle itself. A more close in area of town with lots of shops, restaurants and coffee shop setting. Seattle area is expensive though I think, that is why many choose Portland as a cheaper alternative. There are also some nice communities North of Seattle such as Mt Vernon and Bellingham. They are somewhat of a drive if one is trying to commute to Seattle every day. I think there may be a train now to those areas, but Im not sure. You can get alot of info on this website and Im sure others will give you tons of info that live up there.

I as you don't like living in Portland but Im from the East Coast and not from a large city. Living here has probably been alot more of an adjustment for me than you, since your from the West Coast. Your dislikes mirror mine but Im not impressed with the population and behavior I see in PDX. In fact Im quite disgusted. So I like you look for other options.

Im not sure you will find your needs filled in the Northwest, other than the cool climate you seem to like. Perhaps California is where your most comfortable with, but as so many the costs get to you. You may at some point just say the Hell with it, the Bay area is home and return. Perhaps to a more inland area of the Bay area and see if the costs can be abit easier to handle. The allergies I don't know what you can do with that. I suffer terribly from mold allergies here in Portland, and need to get out of here all together.

Best of Luck.