Spokane Or Coeur D Alene (Coeur d'Alene: income, income tax, living in)

[jadbad2004]

Hi ya Snowangel,I went to school in Spokane at Bethel Jr High and they had a strange school yr cycle, I went 45 days then off 15 this may have been changed since then. Granted it was several yrs ago but even then the school was pretty rough, and I was never accepted there since I was an outsider. I would look hard into the schools before I chose Spokane IMO. Good Luck to you.

[Cosmo]

LoL ...spo-compton i always say that. Move to CDA area. The winters suck around here anymore. I shoveled like 2 times this year and it was cold for about 2 weeks. It snows then rains. Move to CDA so housing goes up even more so i can cash out and get out of here cause ive been here for 25 years and its nice but im ready for a change.

[pjjujo37]

Living in Spk-CDA area 40 yrs., both have good/bad things to consider. One area not mentioned, is SE of Spk-- out on HIway 27, toward Freeman, Rockford area or turn off 27 and on to Elder Rd. This is still farm country but only abt.20 miles from both Spk Valley and CDA. If you want to have a few ac. to yourself, there is property available, great scenery,a bit more snow at higher elevations but beautiful. One would need to be more self relient in winter mos. considering you would be using rural, county roads. The towns of Valleyford, Rockford & Fairfield are small but close enough to take advantage of what Spk has to offer. The Freeman schools ( a consolidated district ) are considerd some of the best.
I have seen the NW area and outlying area ( which is also rural ) mentioned but have also heard from others who have lived and had todrive into town to work, that they would not make that move again -- or they have sold out and moved back closer to town. Liberty lake is a nice area but upscale. This general area as with others of the Northwest has seen a great deal of growth and change ;traffic congestion being the result but thats to be expected with a surge in population. Also gang/drug activity in the last 10-15 years -- as in other cities. Actually prefer CDA ID a bit over Spk.--but have not lived there.
pj

[downtownCDA]

CDA and the surrounding region is growing rapidly. If you want to escape population, this may not be the place for you. I came here for a small town and am now discovering I live in a soon to be sprawling suburban city.

[thompson84606]

Originally Posted by mejaka

Still no reference for the stats?

The rape rate is quite easy to explain. Washington, Idaho, and Oregon are agricultural communities. People think of these areas as full of friendly old farmers in bib overalls that have lived on that plot of land forever. This is not at all true in this day and age. Farming means migrant workers, often here illegally. Other workers are drifters, traveling from place to place looking to make a buck in the harvest season and move on. Many sex offenders are forced into these kind of jobs because other companies wont hire them. Spokane has a very high poverty rate (over 15%) and unemployment rate (between 6 and 10% over the last couple of years) and these are also a factor. Many people are attracted by the social services of the northwest and high minimum wage, also spokane has some of the cheapest apartment rental rates of any city of it's size. The west is extremely spread out meaning that it's easy to rape and run without being found. Now, the fact that you are comparing spokane to orange county is amazing to me. The OC is the nicest part of california and the cost of living, education level and crime reflect that. People that are paying $2000 per month in rent in the middle of suburbia are less likely to be rapists. I'm sure there aren't very many sex offenders in laguna niguel or irvine where they're living in 3 million dollar houses. Compare spokane to Fresno or Sactown, Boise and Canyon county are more like the barstow area than laguna beach. Apples to apples.

[thompson84606]

these points are further demonstrated in agricultural (kansas, oklahoma, texas) and manufacturing areas (illinois, indiana, michigan) High rape rates in areas similar to spokane.

[ppoitras]

I just moved to CDA within the last year from South Dakota and absolutely love it! It's not too big or too small, but Spokane is too big, too much traffic, too much crime, etc.

[Katera]

I lived in Spokane for 4 years while I was stationed at Fairchild AFB. It sucked, bad. Loooooong winters, high crime <and this was in the late 80's early 90's>, and pretty ugly. My father came up to visit me on the base one year and commented on how it reminded him of "West Texas". The burning season is horrendous. I mean.....you can't breathe there is so much soot in the air. When I was there a front page story came out with the head lines, "Spokane air quality is worse in LA's". It was nasty.

[brokencrayola]

Originally Posted by Katera

I lived in Spokane for 4 years while I was stationed at Fairchild AFB. It sucked, bad. Loooooong winters, high crime <and this was in the late 80's early 90's>, and pretty ugly. My father came up to visit me on the base one year and commented on how it reminded him of "West Texas". The burning season is horrendous. I mean.....you can't breathe there is so much soot in the air. When I was there a front page story came out with the head lines, "Spokane air quality is worse in LA's". It was nasty.

They are not burning anymore.

[goldpolkadots]

What's the difference between Spokane, WA and Coeur d'Alene, ID based on weather, people, housing, etc?