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Okay, I'll admit it. Over the last few years I was a WVC fanboy This was.. honestly compensation for the fact that most people unfairly look down on WVC and speak poorly of it without really knowing anything about it or its neighborhood nuances, so having just posted something like this for a town I moved to I wanted to share a more objective and critical perspective on my 4 years as a resident of the 84128 Zip Code (specifically West Hunter):
Pros:
You really can't beat the Northwest side of the valley when it comes to how far your dollar goes. We owned a relatively new 2000 square foot house for about $1,000 a month. You can't find that anywhere along the Wasatch Front unless you go clear out to Clearfield or Tooele or something.
Speaking of commutes, as far as suburbs go, the commute really can't be beat (except maybe WX/NSL). The 201 is essentially a freeway for WVC/Magna only. It's in great shape, there's rarely traffic, and then on top of that the Green Line exists for those who prefer to take the train.
People are very "Salt-of-the-Earth", which I like. There's zero snobbery and most people are quite neighborly. Nobody is flaunting their money by leasing a new Audi, but incomes in the 84128 zip code are generally high enough that many could afford this if they wanted.
Ethnic food. There is such an overabundance of high-quality ethnic food in WVC, from Mexican, to Thai, to Japanese, to Polynesian.. and it's not crowded like you get in the hip Salt Lake locations. A lot of people are really missing out on some hidden gems along 5600 West.
Not as strong of a conservative religious presence. Yes Mormonism is still the big religion in town, but you don't get that one-upper, holier-than-thou feel that I experienced so strongly growing up in other suburbs. It's more like religion is part of their life, rather than is their life.
Cons:
It occasionally smells bad - like really bad. There's a solid waste processing facility at 1300 South and 6400 West called ET-Technologies that lays out solid waste to dry so it can then be clean enough for a landfill. Maybe 2-3 times a month hot, dry winds kick up from the north and blanket the entire west side of the valley with an odor that smells like a thousand bags of flaming turds. I complained to the city, the county, and the state Health Department, but nobody could do anything. The stench is there to stay (..unless some other activist wants to pick up where I left off?)
It's loud. RMR is incredibly annoying on Friday nights when you want to watch a movie (..or sleep), but the racetrack is going full blast until 2 AM with their stupid Midnight Drags.
Segregation. Even in mixed neighborhoods, church groups are segregated into English and Spanish speaking, and this creates two distinctly separated groups of people who live among each other, but rarely acknowledge each other.
It's very blue collar - which means lots of fireworks, lots of noisy recreational vehicles, lots of cars not parked in garages, and lots of legally-questionable and aesthetically obnoxious home improvement projects. My next door neighbor owned a food truck which he proudly parked in his driveway, all. year. long. It was an absolute eyesore.
Neutral:
People think you live in "the hood. They'll come out, visit you, determine that your neighborhood is nice, then immediately go back to assuming you live in the hood.
Not a lot of people out in the evenings. It's suburbia. Lots are large and there's no where to really walk to unless you're taking your dog for a run, so most people drive everywhere which makes for a quiet neighborhood (unless someone is working on their ATV..).
It's quirky. There are literally horse properties bordering 4 story apartment buildings. To me this shows a lack of foresight in urban planning and a city council that simply approves all development for the sake of development, but this applies to most of Utah.
Overall, 6/10. Not a bad place to live, and I'd personally still take the area over most South Valley or Central Davis County suburbs, but it's not a destination either and I completely understand why others would choose Layton or South Jordan over it. Were I to move back, I'd move to Liberty Wells, or Sugar House, or maybe even Central Bountiful, but were I again 26 and looking to buy my first home or any age and needing to stick to a Sub-200 budget, I'd happily move to WVC again.
My main disagreement is the lack of traffic on SR201. I lived in Copperton and worked by the airport. I took SR201 to 8400 West for 13 years.
If I could work my schedule to get off at 4pm, the commute wasn't bad. If I left the office after 5:15pm, it was faster to drive all the way to Saltaire on I80 and back to Magna.
Been living in WVC for not even a year yet and have had my cars broken into three times, have had an attempted break in on my apartment once and have been held up at gunpoint. Not to mention constantly harassed by panhandlers everywhere. I give WVC 0/10 and can't wait to move!
Been living in WVC for not even a year yet and have had my cars broken into three times, have had an attempted break in on my apartment once and have been held up at gunpoint. Not to mention constantly harassed by panhandlers everywhere. I give WVC 0/10 and can't wait to move!
West Valley City has a theft rate of 30.95 per 1,000 residents. This means that if you live in WVC for a year you have about a 3% chance of having something stolen from you. The fact that this happened to you three times in one year is quite shocking. The odds of this happening are about 0.0027%. Stated otherwise about 1 in 37,000 WVC residents will be victims of theft 3 times in one year. This would be roughly 4 residents of the city.
If we throw in your claims of a break-in (WVC rate 4.91 per 1,000 residents) and an assault (WVC rate 3.48 per 1,000) - the odds of all 5 of these things happening at random to a single person in one year of living in WVC are 1 in 2,165,414,237 (roughly 2 billion). There are 135,000 people in WVC making this occur for 0.000036 of them every year. Stated more reasonably 135,000 people would need to live in WVC with static crime rates for 27,700 years for this to actually happen to someone. By that time I think there are probably more pressing matters to deal with, such as structural stability of some of the masonry construction homes on unconsolidated lake sediments within an active seismic region, or the potential for the Earth to enter another glacial period and Lake Bonneville to fill back up, submerging the city under 400 feet of water, or maybe even human life expectancy being only 80 years..
I think it's safe to say that you're either making this up, or you are involved with some really shady people and have made yourself a target of their crime. Based on your remark of being "constantly harassed" by panhandlers, something I almost never witnessed outside of freeway off-ramps in my nearly half-decade there, I'm going to go with my first explanation. Regardless, when you finally get your opportunity to move, I'd suggest you don't move to Salt Lake City or South Salt Lake, where crime rates are much higher and never, ever go to Downtown - where you may actually get harassed by panhandlers, who are more than happy to leave you alone at your first expression of disinterest.
Putting that all aside for a moment, I really like your Username
West Valley City has a theft rate of 30.95 per 1,000 residents. This means that if you live in WVC for a year you have about a 3% chance of having something stolen from you. The fact that this happened to you three times in one year is quite shocking. The odds of this happening are about 0.0027%. Stated otherwise about 1 in 37,000 WVC residents will be victims of theft 3 times in one year. This would be roughly 4 residents of the city.
If we throw in your claims of a break-in (WVC rate 4.91 per 1,000 residents) and an assault (WVC rate 3.48 per 1,000) - the odds of all 5 of these things happening at random to a single person in one year of living in WVC are 1 in 2,165,414,237 (roughly 2 billion). There are 135,000 people in WVC making this occur for 0.000036 of them every year. Stated more reasonably 135,000 people would need to live in WVC with static crime rates for 27,700 years for this to actually happen to someone. By that time I think there are probably more pressing matters to deal with, such as structural stability of some of the masonry construction homes on unconsolidated lake sediments within an active seismic region, or the potential for the Earth to enter another glacial period and Lake Bonneville to fill back up, submerging the city under 400 feet of water, or maybe even human life expectancy being only 80 years..
I think it's safe to say that you're either making this up, or you are involved with some really shady people and have made yourself a target of their crime. Based on your remark of being "constantly harassed" by panhandlers, something I almost never witnessed outside of freeway off-ramps in my nearly half-decade there, I'm going to go with my first explanation. Regardless, when you finally get your opportunity to move, I'd suggest you don't move to Salt Lake City or South Salt Lake, where crime rates are much higher and never, ever go to Downtown - where you may actually get harassed by panhandlers, who are more than happy to leave you alone at your first expression of disinterest.
Putting that all aside for a moment, I really like your Username
Geo aggie, i have never had pan handle thing in WVC and been there quite alot, have friends in Sugarhouse who have had problems with theft so tbh can happen anywhere and they are not dodgy lol !
I feel crime is WVC is hyped up especially as often gang related and nowhere near some of the major cities in the US. I have never had issues around there and been around all hours of the night especially coming from and too concerts and other events
Having lived in SLC I think what people think is scary is nothing compared to stuff occuring outside Utah and petty crime quite commonplace in most parts of the world, Utah is a bit of a bubble when it comes to this. Some people I knew in SLC and live out in the suburbs where I was living were surprised we went downtown as they rarely venture out of the burbs to there as said oh its a bit scary never mind coming out of concerts and other stuff late at night, made me chuckle as never have i felt unsafe there compared to other areas of the country or world I have been its just peoples perception
I promise I'll only speak FACTS where WVC is concerned. Let me say I happen to be a avid police scanner enthusiast. Have been for years but only recently got back into it after a long hiatus from when I was into it back in the late 80's big time. I now have a sophisticated system where I listen to virtually ALL police and fire systems in the entire Salt Lake Valley and Tooele.
That said especially on Friday and Saturday nights, there is some unreal activity (that never makes it to the news) that goes on right IN and around West Valley City in particular. Yes some other junk happens in South Salt Lake and Tooele for that matter. But the real firestorm of robberies, theft, break-in's, car chases (big time), wife beatings, domestic violence occurrences and gang activities being busted happens smack dab IN West Valley City.
Why anyone would want to live within 5 miles of that is beyond me. But I guess many people have different priorities, concerns and desires. Personally I can't be far enough away from that stuff, but guess that's me. I'm strictly saying if ANYONE of you happens to have a competent scanner, which picks up the current Trunking technology used by WVC police.....just tune in on a Friday or Saturday evening. It's far more entertaining (from a good distance) than television for sure. It is consistent and serious indeed. That's all I can say about this or comment on. Please don't attack me. I'm just telling you what I know and what you can easily confirm for yourself if you're into scanning for example. If I'm not mistaken you even have a potential option of finding some websites that broadcast the audio from police calls. But a really competent scanner will run you about $300. It is indeed fascinating to say the least. You hear it all. Police, Fire, City Operations, School Communications, Transportation Info and tons more. Sorry but I just wanted to share this bit of truth........but I know it's likely not going to be well received. Forgive me but I'm just the messenger.
If you only speak facts, please show me the data which backs up your claims.
The anecdote of, "I own a police scanner and the city of 140,000 people has more activity than the nearby cities of 15,000-50,000 residents and is the second most active city in the state" is a pretty terrible anecdote when the per-capita statistics spell out a pretty typical working class suburb with an admittedly unusually high rate of auto-theft, but the broad brush stroke with which you paint a city of 140,000 people (and apparently a 5 mile radius surrounding it..? Ever heard of Grosse Pointe?) is ignorant and as I've expressed many times before on here, a huge pet peeve of mine.
You would never live in Glendale, right? But the Avenues? Well that's one of the nicest neighborhoods in the state! So why does this type of thinking apply to Salt Lake City and its 190,000 residents, but it does not apply to West Valley City and its 140,000 residents? Personally I wouldn't live in Redwood, but Highbury? Well, that's one of the nicest neighborhoods on the west side of the valley! And probably the best price per square foot you can get in the entire metro for a Post-2000's neighborhood, but you don't acknowledge that. Why is that?
I know you're real big on "fact" and "figures". My only suggestion would be pick up a competent scanner and spend a Friday or Saturday evening listening. This discussion would be OVER. It's all I can say. You can read your facts and figures in a book, or you can hear them in real time happening each weekend (typically). It ain't pretty, but it most certainly IS what's happening. Take it or leave it.
Yes, facts and figures do generally come from books, but one can certainly collect them on their own; however, considering I live 2,000 miles away now you're going to have to record your facts for me. All I can provide you with is my experience of having lived there for a number of years, but like I said - a city of 140,000 people is going to be more active on a scanner than a city of 20,000 people. One would expect at the very least 7x more activity, and given the increased economic diversity and low-cost neighborhoods on the east side of WVC it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect even twice (14x) that.
What I'm saying is context goes a long way. Don't compare WVC to Herriman. It's 700% larger and Herriman is a new-development exurb with about as much diversity as a 1950's sitcom. Compare it to SLC or West Jordan which are 135% and 78% of the size of WVC, respectively, and also have a relative amount of economic and racial diversity.
Yes, facts and figures do generally come from books, but one can certainly collect them on their own; however, considering I live 2,000 miles away now you're going to have to record your facts for me. All I can provide you with is my experience of having lived there for a number of years, but like I said - a city of 140,000 people is going to be more active on a scanner than a city of 20,000 people. One would expect at the very least 7x more activity, and given the increased economic diversity and low-cost neighborhoods on the east side of WVC it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect even twice (14x) that.
What I'm saying is context goes a long way. Don't compare WVC to Herriman. It's 700% larger and Herriman is a new-development exurb with about as much diversity as a 1950's sitcom. Compare it to SLC or West Jordan which are 135% and 78% of the size of WVC, respectively, and also have a relative amount of economic and racial diversity.
Yep spot on which is what I was saying earlier, can't compare WVC and Herriman its like apples and pears! That made me chuckle. I agree on context. Utah is safer than alot of places in the US in general. People act like WVC is Compton or something just because it has a bit of diversity and isn't your typical suburban area its not even close. Alot who live in areas such as Herriman etc rarely venture out their neighborhood, never mind into even the city!
I'm sure many making these sweeping statements would be scared in many neighbourhoods or areas most others see as a good area.
I have grown up in Europe and having returned back there now many would be shocked at where I live as it has such a mixed bag of people and probably feel it is unsafe! It's nothing of the sort but when you have always lived in a uber safe bubble everything feels unsafe and scary!
You even find that across the world where people grow up in a small town and then venture into a bigger place.
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This was.. honestly compensation for the fact that most people unfairly look down on WVC and speak poorly of it without really knowing anything about it or its neighborhood nuances, so having just posted something like this for a town I moved to I wanted to share a more objective and critical perspective on my 4 years as a resident of the 84128 Zip Code (specifically West Hunter):
