Questions about the Tri-Cities (Seattle, Spokane: low crime, houses, neighborhoods)

[Arleigh-20]

I am a native of the WA.coast and have been living in Montana for the past 6 years.
I am going to relocate to a lower elevation, and to a place with less wildfire smoke.
I have never had much to do with the Tri- Cities and have included it as one of my cities to look into.
The houses certainly look affordable and in very nice looking neighorhoods.
Can any one tell me how strict the covenants are, that are included in the subdivisions. What neighborhoods, in what city might be the quietest and clean. I have more questions but this will do for now.
Thanks
A

[mustang34]

Being that the area is a valley, we ocasionally get smoke to stick around, but constant winds usually keep it away. In my neighborhood, a subdivision in Western Pasco, there are no covenants. But there are city laws: permits for fence, shed, yard sales, no car that doesn't run can be visible. I'm not as familiar with the laws of Kennewick, Richland and West Richland. Areas to avoid are Eastern Pasco and Eastern Kennewick. Parts of Central Richland. Good areas are Southern Richland, Western and Southern Kennewick and Western Pasco. Also the Southern West Richland. All these different directions are crazy! If you want quiet, just stay away from the main streets and it should be mostly peaceful. West Richland is a seperate city from Richland, in case you didn't know.

[pw72]

I lived in the Tri-Cities from 1990 to 1996, and was an absentee landlord from 1996 to 2003.

Just a few bullet points about the area:

1. It is still affordable.
2. It has the sunniest and hottest summer weather in Washington.
3. It has many hi-tech workers, mostly due to Hanford.
4. It has a rapidly growing hispanic population
5. It is the retail hub in the Seattle-Portland-Spokane triangle.

Want more? I'd be happy to answer more specific questions...

[Arleigh-20]

My thanks to the replies.
We will be visiting the tri-cities next week.
all this information is very helpful.

Is the wind and or dust intolerable most of the time or some of the time?
We are almost pensioned 60- somethings. We do not require an endless supply of outdoor activities, but enjoy fishing.

I suppose crime and honest weather reports are important
and a ballpark range of the medium utility bills, Would be helpful.
Thanks

[mustang34]

Avoid the bad areas and crime is light.
Weather is not great in my opinion, but better than many areas.
Not much rain (3-7 in. yearly), HOT summers (80-105 degrees)
Winters sometimes get light snow, and it's COLD (15-40 degrees)
Foggy winters and summers with very low humidity.

[Selena<3]

Ok, let me help you answer your questions.
Crime is low for thefact that tri cities does its best to be a respectable wholesome town.
there are more property crimes than personal crimes .the most that happens here are auto wrecks where someone may get ticketed, arressted for drunk driving.Someone gets sued or lawsuit.Then property crime would be theft or auto wreck, vandalism ,forgegery conterfeit bus passes. counterfeit bills, crdit card theft, PIN theft, ssn theft (identity theft). stuff llike that but theres not a whole lot of rape or murdr most of which happens in pasco or kennewick.
crime is definatly light here in comparison to LA ill go over the other topics
ive heard many to differ but in what ive seen in the attitude of people tri cities is a sundown town meaning its kinda a presumed curfew and many are not out at night even though were living in suburbs and the fact that tri cities has old traditional ways from it primarily white conservative people who went by those rules times have changed virtually and universally and young people here beg to differ on the rules.if you know what i mena . south richland is a safe place so is the keene rd area and further up bombing range. that would be a safe and good clean place for your chidren the quality of the homes are nice but pricier especially the ones in the hills west neighborhood. decide what you want on that i would go quality over quantity . i believe in the quality of life but thats just me utlilities i cant give you an answer im not a taxpayer yet otherwise id fill you in gladly.
and lastly we have winday days here but very few i hate the wind personally im very athletic and like to workout im a runner so it tends to hold me back but i still go we dont get the gusts too bad around here and the dust blowing isnt as bad as it was 10 years ago . then 10 years ago we werent nealry as commercial and had not had nearly as many buisiness. and had more uncovered ground so that holds and explainantion. i hope you found this informative based off of what others and myself said and have a wonderful stay in the tri cities we have a lot to offer (:

[Moon Waffle]

PROS:
-best weather in the Northwest overall
-low cost of living
-good infrastructure (virtually no traffic issues)
-relatively safe, overall

CONS:
-suburb with no "urb" (very few cultural offerings)
-isolated (nearest big city is 2 hours away and not much in between)
-lots of wind and resulting allergies are known to be a problem for many in this area
-limited food/shopping offerings

PROS OR CONS (depending on your point of view):
-very conservative
-sleepy, quiet towns; not much going on
-large retired population, lots of families, very small singles scene

[~HolyNinja~]

Has it changed since these posts were written????

[j_k_k]

It doesn't change much, period. Which can be an asset or a liability, depending on your perspective.

[~HolyNinja~]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

It doesn't change much, period. Which can be an asset or a liability, depending on your perspective.

Agreed. Sounds like more of an asset to me; seems like it's really a decent place to live with low cost of living, low crime, fair weather, decent traffic and friendly people. (right? )