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I have decided to leave the heat and pollution of Phoenix for Spokane. My allergies need a break.
Your going to hate Spokane in the late summer and fall then. The Palouse farmers (a large agricultural area southwest of town) are busy harvesting their fields and most of the time the dust they kick up floats right into Spokane. Since Spokane sits in a bowl, the dust can sit for days if there is no wind to blow it out, which happens ofter in the fall.
The farmers also used to burn their fields, which added to the misery. Last I heard they were trying to move away from that, but I'm not sure if they have or not.
As far as the question regarding Spokane's crime, I can answer that. I moved here three years ago to attend college. I've lived in Los Angeles, North Hollywood, Tulsa, OK and the east bay area. Never have I had my car broken into or my home in any of these places. I've lived in the northwest for over 20 years and never experienced any of these crimes. In addition, I'm over 50 and NEVER had a car wreck. Since living in Spokane, I've had my jewelry stolen from my apartment, seven rings, all of which were diamonds and emeralds, my car was broken into and my new Pioneer stereo taken along with my cd's and I've had FOUR car wrecks, none of which were my fault. The last wreck was a year ago this August, the women did not have car insurance or a drivers license. She got off and I had to eat the cost, nothing was done to her. I was told that over 40% of the people who live here do not carry car insurance. I only carried state minimum because of my driving record, my loss was over $6,000.00. The women is STILL driving the same vehicle!
This town is a criminals dream. Here, we rank up in the top ten of cities with car theft! Here, you can steal up to SEVEN vehicles without it being a felony! We have trouble with hack shops who hire people to steal vehicles, the hack shops change the looks and resell them.
My girlfriend had her car stolen by a male who had stolen THREE cars but got a slap on the wrist because it was just a misdemeanor. HUH??????
Also, when I called the police station regarding the theft of my jewlery and stereo, it was no big deal to the police department, their reply was, "Yea, that happens a lot in this town, you can call this number and leave a report, but we won't come out and investigate." The place I lived was on South Hill, a very nice neighborhood. I was ignorant when I moved here, I thought it would be a safe neighborhood because of the money on the hill, not! That is WHERE the thieves go at night to steal and destroy vehicles. While living there, a neighbor encountered his windows getting smashed out of his vehicle THREE times! His loss. I was told it's because I didn't live far enough on the south hill, no! I met a man from Seattle who told me he has never exprienced crime like this in any other city her lived in, including Los Angeles. His car had been broken into EIGHT times and he gave up on trying to own a bicycle, they all get stolen.
No place is free of crime but I personally can't wait to get out of this god forsaken town! Never have I experienced crime like I have here, not enough police to do anything about the crime and the criminals know it.
Never go out at night downtown alone, it's very dangerous. It's right next to what they call, Felong Flats, where they send ex con's to live, in our downtown area.
For those who don't believe me or want to see the crime rate in this town, go to Spokane Police Department.com and click on crime maps. Type in an address and you WILL be shocked at how much crime is in this town, even the Valley although it's not as bad, that's where I live now.
I would never live near Francis on the northside, it's a very very bad neighborhood and high in crime rate. Hillyard used to be, but isn't as bad as most of the north neighborhoods. As far as southhill, beautiful historical homes, but the crime is so bad, you couldn't give me a house on the hill. I was told that's where the criminals go to steal.
Gangs leave their insignia's on the dumpsters in the alley nightly. Cars drive around and scout out neighborhoods.
I hope this helps anyone wanting to know about the crime in Spokane, I personally can't wait to finish school and MOVE!
As far as meth, CA is number 1, Oregon next then Washington however, ALL cities have a meth problem. Here, Spokane is the distributing center for meth in the northwest, lovely.
Oh yes, Spokane is a small big city, the job market is horrible here, mostly service industry jobs!
I went to a festival near the Spokane valley and one of those dust storms whooped up. As we drove back into Montana where we live it started raining and the rain was brown mud washing all that dirt out of the air.
While I agree that the North East area of Spokane is rough (Hillyard area). North Spokane is waaaay better than Felony Flats or the lower South Hill (near the hospitals). I've lived in Spokane city for about 7 yrs now....and I've only a crime problem once.
I lived in some apartments a couple blocks north of East Francis and had an old car broken into...It was over the 4th of July weekend (i was in tacoma for 4 days) and it was parked on the street.
Now I live just south of West Francis (Shadle park area) and have friendly neighbors and an elementary school nearby. I haven't seen any crime near my house since I bought it...3 yrs ago.
I haven't been to all the parts of Spokane, althought I drove through most of its areas, so take my words with a grain of salt.
I hate going anywhere north pass the I-90, I just don't like the northern area at all. Unfortunately all the big malls are located there. South Hill ranges from stunning to awful, sometimes coming from one to the other way too quickly. Nice houses are mixed with ugly shacks. Generally western South Hill down till about 29th Ave is a nice area, while east South Hill (close and east of Ray St) and north of 29th Ave are pretty much trashy too (except for the Comstock park area which is one of the best).
Downtown looks nice but it's very small, just a three or four very short parallel streets surrounded by a decay and is pretty much deserted. You can walk through the whole downtown in probably about 10-15 minutes.
The only other thing I can tell about Spokane is that it is very predictable landscape-wise. There is tiny downtown, there are industrial zones, and there are living areas. All strictly separated, nothing in between. If you look at the map you'll see street layout is basically a square grating with straight streets intersecting each other at 90 degrees, so if you like diverse town scenery with twisting streets and changing landscapes, you won't find too much of that here.
As far as the question regarding Spokane's crime, I can answer that. I moved here three years ago to attend college. I've lived in Los Angeles, North Hollywood, Tulsa, OK and the east bay area. Never have I had my car broken into or my home in any of these places. I've lived in the northwest for over 20 years and never experienced any of these crimes. In addition, I'm over 50 and NEVER had a car wreck. Since living in Spokane, I've had my jewelry stolen from my apartment, seven rings, all of which were diamonds and emeralds, my car was broken into and my new Pioneer stereo taken along with my cd's and I've had FOUR car wrecks, none of which were my fault. The last wreck was a year ago this August, the women did not have car insurance or a drivers license. She got off and I had to eat the cost, nothing was done to her. I was told that over 40% of the people who live here do not carry car insurance. I only carried state minimum because of my driving record, my loss was over $6,000.00. The women is STILL driving the same vehicle!
This town is a criminals dream. Here, we rank up in the top ten of cities with car theft! Here, you can steal up to SEVEN vehicles without it being a felony! We have trouble with hack shops who hire people to steal vehicles, the hack shops change the looks and resell them.
My girlfriend had her car stolen by a male who had stolen THREE cars but got a slap on the wrist because it was just a misdemeanor. HUH??????
Also, when I called the police station regarding the theft of my jewlery and stereo, it was no big deal to the police department, their reply was, "Yea, that happens a lot in this town, you can call this number and leave a report, but we won't come out and investigate." The place I lived was on South Hill, a very nice neighborhood. I was ignorant when I moved here, I thought it would be a safe neighborhood because of the money on the hill, not! That is WHERE the thieves go at night to steal and destroy vehicles. While living there, a neighbor encountered his windows getting smashed out of his vehicle THREE times! His loss. I was told it's because I didn't live far enough on the south hill, no! I met a man from Seattle who told me he has never exprienced crime like this in any other city her lived in, including Los Angeles. His car had been broken into EIGHT times and he gave up on trying to own a bicycle, they all get stolen.
No place is free of crime but I personally can't wait to get out of this god forsaken town! Never have I experienced crime like I have here, not enough police to do anything about the crime and the criminals know it.
Never go out at night downtown alone, it's very dangerous. It's right next to what they call, Felong Flats, where they send ex con's to live, in our downtown area.
For those who don't believe me or want to see the crime rate in this town, go to Spokane Police Department.com and click on crime maps. Type in an address and you WILL be shocked at how much crime is in this town, even the Valley although it's not as bad, that's where I live now.
I would never live near Francis on the northside, it's a very very bad neighborhood and high in crime rate. Hillyard used to be, but isn't as bad as most of the north neighborhoods. As far as southhill, beautiful historical homes, but the crime is so bad, you couldn't give me a house on the hill. I was told that's where the criminals go to steal.
Gangs leave their insignia's on the dumpsters in the alley nightly. Cars drive around and scout out neighborhoods.
I hope this helps anyone wanting to know about the crime in Spokane, I personally can't wait to finish school and MOVE!
As far as meth, CA is number 1, Oregon next then Washington however, ALL cities have a meth problem. Here, Spokane is the distributing center for meth in the northwest, lovely.
Oh yes, Spokane is a small big city, the job market is horrible here, mostly service industry jobs!
I totally believe this post. Spokane IS a small big city. Population and area-wise it is on the larger side. But, there is much missing from this small big city.
As far as jobs go, Spokane has difficulty providing these for families, especially ones who are new to the area.
Crime is rampant, not murders....but theft-all types. There are many homeless and no biggie there as they are everywhere, but Spokane's homeless are fairly aggressive, and not at all shy to approach YOU and even try to touch you. NOT GOOD! We were bothered by them several times while in places to eat!
Other than nature, parks and the river, what does Spokane REALLY have to offer? Not much.
Home prices are still ridiculous. And property taxes are even more ridiculous.
There is lots of 'white trash', yes that is very true. And, their homes with cars parked on the lawns and garbage all over could very well be right next to your neighborhood. I didn't like how the different classes of homes were so intermingled. Your $500k home could have a $85k home within 1 block.
I believe the next 'real' larger city that is closest to Spokane is Seattle!! 6hrs away, this really bothered me....when we were deciding if Spokane was for 'us'. I didn't like how 'isolated' Spokane was. And since IMO it's not a 'real' city in itself, I realized we need to be very near one.....6hrs is not very near.
The last thing that made us realize that Spokane was not for us was the fact that I am a 'future' planner. In saying this, I mean my 3 boys are eventually going to be in and out of college and in the working field. Of course a mother wants her children to live close by if at all possible. Well, Spokane pretty ruled that out from happening even before it's going to happen. Where would my sons get a job?? Spokane's job market's major percentage is employers with less than 5 employees. There are minimal large companies in Spokane. This is very limiting when one is looking for a job. Who wants to make a living/career working at 'Claire's Boutique'?
The downtown is pretty tiny and not much going on at all there. Pretty blase'.
Other than that, I have to say Spokane is a pretty place, but there are plenty of 'pretty' places with other features as well...........
In yesterday's (Sunday) Spokesman Review newspaper, there is an 18 page section full of job classifieds in Spokane. Of these 18 pages, 4 full pages are under the dental/healthcare & medical section. Another 3 1/2 pages are under the Professional section. There's about 1 1/2 pages of Skilled Trades, 2 pages of General employment, and 1 1/2 pages for Office Admin & Accounting/Financial. Only 3 individual ads under Retail (none for Claire's Boutique). Several other miscellaneous sections. It appears that there are plenty of employment opportunities available to people who are looking for jobs in this area, depending on their level of experience, education and skills.
I believe the next 'real' larger city that is closest to Spokane is Seattle!! 6hrs away, this really bothered me....when we were deciding if Spokane was for 'us'. I didn't like how 'isolated' Spokane was. And since IMO it's not a 'real' city in itself, I realized we need to be very near one.....6hrs is not very near.
You're about 2 hrs off (at the speed limit)...it's about the same as LA to Vegas.
Link: Google Maps
LOL Carlos!! CDA-are you referring this town to as a large city?? I hope not! We drove through the downtown and were out before we knew it. I actually went into a gas station store and asked the attendant 'where is the town in CDA' his answer was 'you're in it!'.....
When I say large city, I mean large city. Like Seattle, Portland, Miami, Orlando....and so on.
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Spokane's crime
