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I would recommend living on the portion of the southill directly south of the hospitals. It would put you within walking distance of the hospitals.
Brown's Addition is a nice part of town and I have a friend who lives there. You can see his house from I-90 actually. Living in Brown's Addition is a lifestyle though for sure. If you are ok with the, ummmm, "wildlife" being right at your front doorstep then you will enjoy Brown's.
With a 7 year old, I would start with elementary school boundaries and work from there. In my opinion, living on the South Hill presents the best option based on your wife's work location and your desire for good schools/safe neighborhood. There are many sub-neighborhoods that make up the South Hill (Comstock, Manito, Lincoln Heights, etc.) and some other posts here may get into more granular detail regarding the differences between the sub-neighborhoods. In my opinion (and only my opinion) the top tier of elementary schools on the South Hill is comprised of: Wilson, Hutton, Moran Prairie, Mullan Road and maybe Jefferson. The next group a step or half-step down would be Hamblen, Adams and Roosevelt. Most neighborhoods surrounding the top tier schools will be very good and the South Hill in general is a safe place. You can do a Google map search for Spokane elementary schools and get a location for the ones mentioned here. The good news is that even if you're at the "top" of the hill up by Mullan Road, the commute to the hospital is likely to be no longer than 15 minutes. Good luck.
With a 7 year old, I would start with elementary school boundaries and work from there. In my opinion, living on the South Hill presents the best option based on your wife's work location and your desire for good schools/safe neighborhood. There are many sub-neighborhoods that make up the South Hill (Comstock, Manito, Lincoln Heights, etc.) and some other posts here may get into more granular detail regarding the differences between the sub-neighborhoods. In my opinion (and only my opinion) the top tier of elementary schools on the South Hill is comprised of: Wilson, Hutton, Moran Prairie, Mullan Road and maybe Jefferson. The next group a step or half-step down would be Hamblen, Adams and Roosevelt. Most neighborhoods surrounding the top tier schools will be very good and the South Hill in general is a safe place. You can do a Google map search for Spokane elementary schools and get a location for the ones mentioned here. The good news is that even if you're at the "top" of the hill up by Mullan Road, the commute to the hospital is likely to be no longer than 15 minutes. Good luck.
this is a lot of great and accurate info............should help op; but as usual most people on this forum advocate for the south hill............ but there's another great area with quick access to the hospitals and that's pleasant valley......walking distance to downtown and a beautiful little neighborhood off the spokane river (steep hills as well)........has some great condos and homes...........check it out. i don't think browns addition is a good choice with a small child.......the guy who was beating up spokane here got one thing right and that was his take on browns addition............a quick drive by will give a good impression.......but it has it's more the normal share of street people and lower income rentals.........so besides its apparent charm it has its dark side......
once again i urge the poster to check out north spokane, it's a quick drive down ash street to downtown......much quicker then driving the us 395/division route........there acturally are a numer of quicker accesses out of north spokane to downtown that makes a hugh difference in communting time for people who live in the north end but work downtown or at the hospitals at the foot of the south hill.
there's ash as i said, then there's monroe and walnut if you are on the western side of division, then there's hamilton, perry, and freya, if you are on the east side of division and want to get to the south hill without driving the bottle neck of the division connection to the south hill. monroe and ash can be near non-stop drives from wellesley to downtown. granted you're not going 60 miles per hours but anywere from 30-40 but hardly any stop lights, so they are the main corridors that locals use instead of division. so for anyone use to living in a big city they will find this "commute", a very easy and quick drive..............whereas if you lived on the south hill and even just an apparent short drive from the hospital you can have a much more hazardous drive in the winter due to the very steep and icy roads on the south hill. so when looking for a place just picture the local roads covered in layers of ice and snow for a couple of months and then ask yourself how you'd like to drive down that steep winding road............even a big 4 wheel drive suv won't keep from sliding down those hills. and forget about riding a bike or walking thorugh it either!! just my 2 cents. oh and the schools on the north side (west of division) are very good
Spokane has...
Many Hospitals near and on South Hill Deaconess is here 5 min. from town.
Within 1hr. there is Skiing,cross country,downhill,water.
Many lakes within 1/2 hr. for kayaking, canoeing swimming etc.
Best bicycling in he country for all levels,large trail system.
If you are active or sports minded you will enjoy a life here.
I have been here 30 years and always find plenty of enjoyable pastimes.
this is a lot of great and accurate info............should help op; but as usual most people on this forum advocate for the south hill............ but there's another great area with quick access to the hospitals and that's pleasant valley......walking distance to downtown and a beautiful little neighborhood off the spokane river (steep hills as well)........has some great condos and homes...........check it out. i don't think browns addition is a good choice with a small child.......the guy who was beating up spokane here got one thing right and that was his take on browns addition............a quick drive by will give a good impression.......but it has it's more the normal share of street people and lower income rentals.........so besides its apparent charm it has its dark side......
once again i urge the poster to check out north spokane, it's a quick drive down ash street to downtown......much quicker then driving the us 395/division route........there acturally are a numer of quicker accesses out of north spokane to downtown that makes a hugh difference in communting time for people who live in the north end but work downtown or at the hospitals at the foot of the south hill.
there's ash as i said, then there's monroe and walnut if you are on the western side of division, then there's hamilton, perry, and freya, if you are on the east side of division and want to get to the south hill without driving the bottle neck of the division connection to the south hill. monroe and ash can be near non-stop drives from wellesley to downtown. granted you're not going 60 miles per hours but anywere from 30-40 but hardly any stop lights, so they are the main corridors that locals use instead of division. so for anyone use to living in a big city they will find this "commute", a very easy and quick drive..............whereas if you lived on the south hill and even just an apparent short drive from the hospital you can have a much more hazardous drive in the winter due to the very steep and icy roads on the south hill. so when looking for a place just picture the local roads covered in layers of ice and snow for a couple of months and then ask yourself how you'd like to drive down that steep winding road............even a big 4 wheel drive suv won't keep from sliding down those hills. and forget about riding a bike or walking thorugh it either!! just my 2 cents. oh and the schools on the north side (west of division) are very good
I think you mean "Peaceful Valley", right, red?
BTW, I'm back in Spokane for the holidays. The sunsets are as lovely as ever, and the sky is full of stars. The frosted trees all over the city are certainly beautiful. But DAMN its cold!
Thank you for all of the reply's. As it turns out, we should get our final word on the move within a week. My fiance's boss will be flying us out to Spokane for a 3 day trip to scout the area. With the travel it will basically be one day of seeing the area. But that is MUCH better than nothing. We will check out all of the South Hill area. North Spokane has peeked my interest with some of the places I have found online. Also, Spokane Valley, North of the 90 seems very nice also (Trentwood?). It appears to be very close to the mountains and an easy, if not a bit longer, of a commute. Does anyone have info about that area also?
Try looking at googlemaps, you can see how it is on the road, thats what I do everytime I visit a new place, just study the map, which is North, East, South, west, then go there.
Spokane, like many people said here, has high paying jobs in the medical field, and thats about it. The majority of the population works at service jobs, and the economy is pretty bad there. lots of locals and college grads eiter go to seattle, or CA to find a job, which you have to think about if you settle here, if your husband can live here and retire here, your kid or kids might move to another place when they get older. I know so because I Just finished my BA at Eastern W. U, in Cheney (1/2 hr drive) and lots of locals went to CA or Seattle. The grads from other places return to their hometowns or cities.
BTW, I'm back in Spokane for the holidays. The sunsets are as lovely as ever, and the sky is full of stars. The frosted trees all over the city are certainly beautiful. But DAMN its cold!
ya right............. thanks yel........... peaceful valley.............ya it's COLD! but i'm not feeling it much cause i'm hibernating for the winter!!! the most i get out is about once a week to the library and store that's just about 3 blocks from my home!!!! getting use to it and just glad there's not a ton of snow, didn't get a snow blower yet and have way too much area to shovel my hand......so betting that this winter will be just cold and not a lot of snow.
Last edited by Count David; 12-27-2011 at 07:50 PM..
Reason: fixed quoting
Thank you for all of the reply's. As it turns out, we should get our final word on the move within a week. My fiance's boss will be flying us out to Spokane for a 3 day trip to scout the area. With the travel it will basically be one day of seeing the area. But that is MUCH better than nothing. We will check out all of the South Hill area. North Spokane has peeked my interest with some of the places I have found online. Also, Spokane Valley, North of the 90 seems very nice also (Trentwood?). It appears to be very close to the mountains and an easy, if not a bit longer, of a commute. Does anyone have info about that area also?
millwood is lots nicer imo, but the thing about living in both those areas is the surrounding area, meaning the driving to and from those 'pockets' in the 'valley' that are nice but then the surrounding area isn't so nice. the valley is marred by having a heavy industrial and railroad yard run down the middle of it....so your drive through the area is a downer, imo......plus have to be careful of the noise from the railroad that 'travels' pretty far. plus there's so fewer nice parks in the valley.....if i had to pick a place in the valley it'd be millmood.....right near the river.....don't know about the school district though.........
Thank you for all of the reply's. As it turns out, we should get our final word on the move within a week. My fiance's boss will be flying us out to Spokane for a 3 day trip to scout the area. With the travel it will basically be one day of seeing the area. But that is MUCH better than nothing. We will check out all of the South Hill area. North Spokane has peeked my interest with some of the places I have found online. Also, Spokane Valley, North of the 90 seems very nice also (Trentwood?). It appears to be very close to the mountains and an easy, if not a bit longer, of a commute. Does anyone have info about that area also?
When I lived in Spokane I lived in that area. I lived in a neighborhood called Northwood. You can't miss it if you are in the Valley. Just look north and look for the big neighborhood on top of the hill. I rented a nice 5 bedroom home there for $1200 a month. Most of the homes for rent in that neighborhood rent for around $1500 to $1800 but you might be able to find a deal like I did there. There are also condos just below Northwood called Mountain View Estates. Just below Mountain View Estates on Argonne is a nice apartment complex called Pasadena Heights. All three of these are close to a very nice elementary school called Pasedena Elementary which is part of the West Valley School district.
It is a pain in the ass to get I-90 from here though during rush hour due to all the Spokies coming from the north side of town via Bigalow Gulch since there is no north-south freeway. On the up side Bigalow Gulch also would provide you a quick and easy way to get to the north side of town from where you live. To avoid going crawling down Argonne for I-90 I used Upriver drive, which was a quick "backdoor" drive out of my neighborhood, to get to downtown.
When I lived there it was the best of both worlds, being able to get to downtown using a nice and easy route as well as being able to do all of my shopping at the much nicer and newer shopping centers on the north side of town in the Mead area. The view in Northwood was great. I could see the entire Valley and I could look out my back deck for a great view of Mt. Spokane. I was very bummed to see so many of the homes in Northwood in foreclosure when I visited Spokane to pick up my son this past summer. It certainly wasn't like that a year ago when I moved out of town. The old neighborhood looked kind of depressed. It's worth checking out though.
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