What's the leftest sunny yet green town? Medf., Ash., etc. (Portland: transplants, neighborhoods)

[sickofcement]

I'm sick of the lack of nature in Berkeley, gotta head north to the elf folk and the trees.
I'm way liberal, so I would love to live near Portland/Eugene, but I need more sun (SAD/Seasonal Affective Disorder).

So I'm looking at Ashland, Medford, Grants Pass etc.
It's very important to me that the local folks are liberal, connected and active. I liked Santa Cruz, but they weren't feisty enough about protecting themselves from things like the moth spraying over the city etc.

Of course if there was a town near EU/PO that was at high altitude thus above the fog, that'd be ideal, but I haven't found anything like that. Damn lumber companies and BLM...

[Brenda-by-the-sea]

Ashland comes closest, but the best answer is "none of the above." What you're looking for isn't in Oregon. And if Santa Cruz was too staid for you...well...I don't know what's left. Have you ever been to Santa Fe, NM?

[davefr]

If you need sun then stay East of the Cascades. Maybe Boulder, CO would be more to your liking.

P.S. I hate moths because they eat my Pendleton wool shirts. Spray baby spray!!

[backdrifter]

Originally Posted by sickofcement

I'm sick of the lack of nature in Berkeley, gotta head north to the elf folk and the trees.
I'm way liberal, so I would love to live near Portland/Eugene, but I need more sun (SAD/Seasonal Affective Disorder).

So I'm looking at Ashland, Medford, Grants Pass etc.
It's very important to me that the local folks are liberal, connected and active. I liked Santa Cruz, but they weren't feisty enough about protecting themselves from things like the moth spraying over the city etc.

Of course if there was a town near EU/PO that was at high altitude thus above the fog, that'd be ideal, but I haven't found anything like that. Damn lumber companies and BLM...

What Brenda said. You would likely still suffer from SAD in Southern Oregon. The winters aren't sunnier.

That said, Santa Cruz is probably on a Eugene level--they spray all around Eugene in the farms of the Willamette Valley. Ashland is below that level of liberalness, but it is, by far, the most liberal town in Southern Oregon.

It's not fog you'd have to worry about. Altitude wouldn't make a difference in the cloud cover in the winter.

Boulder and Santa Fe are great suggestions though. Flagstaff too, maybe?

[bluebird39]

Ouch!

I'd say Ashland might be a good fit, but you got to remember that the lumber companies and BLM support many families, including many in Ashland. If you move out of the cement culture into the woods, you got to at least be willing to bite you tongue concerning logging. Oregon, especially West-side produces more lumber than just about any other state, just as California produces lots of agricultural products.

You might also consider Bend.

[GeorgiaTransplant]

Originally Posted by sickofcement

I'm sick of the lack of nature in Berkeley, gotta head north to the elf folk and the trees.
I'm way liberal, so I would love to live near Portland/Eugene, but I need more sun (SAD/Seasonal Affective Disorder).

Don't come to western Oregon anywhere if you worry about SAD.

Originally Posted by sickofcement

So I'm looking at Ashland, Medford, Grants Pass etc. It's very important to me that the local folks are liberal, connected and active. I liked Santa Cruz, but they weren't feisty enough about protecting themselves from things like the moth spraying over the city etc.

Originally Posted by sickofcement

Of course if there was a town near EU/PO that was at high altitude thus above the fog, that'd be ideal, but I haven't found anything like that. Damn lumber companies and BLM...

I second Boulder (I have lived both there and Oregon). Sunny and hyperliberal. Oregon has a strong liberal streak in areas-but is primarily an agricultural and resource extraction state. Farmers and loggers don't tend to vote left, and do tend to look down on "damn libruls." (full disclosure: my family is mostly farmers/ranchers although I am not, so I think I'm qualified to comment on their politics in general).

[zagyzebra]

Hands down Ashland. It is mostly above the fog line, and while it gets cold during the winter, and can be dreadfully day-in-and-day-out drizzly, we can also experience drought conditions. Just never know. We need the rain, so learn to enjoy it. It's what keeps everything green in the state of Oregon. That said, as much as I love both Eugene and Portland as cities, I could never live in either place due to the weather. Eight months of the gray veil would definitely depress me. Plus, it's always at least 10 degrees cooler in Portland, and I love the warmer weather we have further south.

To me, and I'm a native of metro L.A., which is a pretty freakin' liberal place, Ashland is full of kookish kind of young, old and in-between hippies, combined with an avant garde youthful population of college students and I guess transplants who have figured out some way to survive outside of big cities, and, finally, the Cali expats that have successfully managed to keep the property prices from declining in this inky-dinky town.

Do NOT consider Medford, nor Grants Pass. I own a farm between Jacksonville and Medford, and love the land, and even the people. But if you need uber-liberal, stay in Ashland.

Bend is also nice, but it's too cold during the winter for my So Cal blood, and probably would be for your No-Cal blood, too.

[sickofcement]

Wow thank you all so much for your help! I know I have to see for myself, but it helps to know where to start. I don't have to live in the perfect spot, I'll probably migrate to or near Eug/Cor/Port in summer, it'd just be nice to have a place to retreat to during the winter which is within 20-40 minutes of a decent left town, and sunny half the time. Rain isn't an issue, just nonstop months of overcast make me mope and get nothing done.
Cold doesn't bother me at all, but Bend sounded kinda privileged and less active and less granola from what I read, but I'll peep it.
Colorado/New Mexico are too far from the ocean, but definitely places to visit regularly.
Thanks again yall.
Side tangent about the moth spray: The moth spray (mostly kerosene and nanoplastic) burns your eyes/face/skin/lungs if you are outside in it, and they sprayed the entire city of santa cruz. Babies were covered in blistering rashes. The moths have been around for over a century, and don't make the food inedible, they simply eat a small portion, predators keep their numbers low. It's the big biz guys who can't stand to see any losses, even if it means spraying residential neighborhoods. Santa cruz was slow to defend itself, Berkeley wasn't and I wouldn't imagine Arcata would be (big town meetings). I thrive amongst people who want to network and be organized about sustainability and loving culture, rather than those that need to wear a costume and exclude people for having less investment in the hippy persona, while neglecting hygiene, safety and tolerance. I'm not saying SC was full of itself, just unable to protect itself.