Wenatchee or what? Relocating to Washington! (Seattle, Spokane: best town, home, safe area)

[Moonface99]

Hi there!
I am moving to Washington state after this summer.
I need to know which city is the safest and somewhat liberal.
Wenatchee sounds like a nice place.
I hear Yakima is filled with gangs and is a poor town.
What western area or middle area of Washington is good for nature lovers?
I tutor and take care of kids, so a barren place with just male loggers is not of interest.
Please be detailed as much as you can, as I really want to wisely use the little money I have and not waste it and end up in the streets, lol.
Thanks for your time.

[NorthwestRepublic]

I recently moved away from Washington to alaska. The liberal cities are the big ones Spokane, Seattle, and Bellingham otherwise its fairly conservative. Washingtonians for the most part could care less about your political values as long as you're not shoving them in other peoples' faces, its a you live your life and let me live my life place.

Nature is everywhere

If i ever move back it will be to the Northeast Corner Metaline or Kettle Falls area not sure if there would be any demand for tutors up there though.

[pw72]

Originally Posted by NorthwestRepublic

I recently moved away from Washington to alaska. The liberal cities are the big ones Spokane, Seattle, and Bellingham otherwise its fairly conservative. Washingtonians for the most part could care less about your political values as long as you're not shoving them in other peoples' faces, its a you live your life and let me live my life place.

Nature is everywhere

If i ever move back it will be to the Northeast Corner Metaline or Kettle Falls area not sure if there would be any demand for tutors up there though.

Spokane is really not liberal. Let's start with that.

Conservative values really exist almost everywhere east of the Cascade crest. Perhaps there are pockets of liberalism in Yakima and into the Tri-Cities, but they are a minority.

Spokane is a city that resembles the midwest, more than Seattle. They are a city that is totally Eastern Washington, and disagrees with W. Washington on most issues, but still likes the Mariners and Seahawks. The city is seperate from W. Washington, but still enjoys some ties. They attract many shoppers from Canada, and attract many shoppers from Northern Idaho. This city is an enigma, really. It is still proactive, and still an economic force in the region, but somehow remains an outpost at the same time.

[amerideaf]

>>>I hear Yakima is filled with gangs and is a poor town<<<

Moving from the area of Baltimore and Washington, I live in the Yakima area for six weeks. I found that it is not poor. Remember that the state minimum wage is $9.04 (highest in the USA) so there are lots of late vehicle models in the Yakima area.

If you prefer to elbow with liberals, please find any town west of the Cascade crest.

[Inkpoe]

The minimum wage has nothing to do with a town being poor or not poor. Yakima is definitely poor in the sense that there's not much opportunities. Being primarily dominant in agricultural, your other opportunities really... are to work in the government or a hospital. By Washington's standards, there's really no skirting around it: Yakima is a dump. But this doesn't mean there isn't wonderful nature offerings, festivals/events, et. c. or that there isn't safe areas within Yakima. I'd suggest you visit Yakima first before deciding to live in it... it's certainly not for everyone.

Wenatchee's really cool. But it's even smaller than Yakima.

Logging is pretty much a dying industry... so I wouldn't worry about that.

Anywhere in Washington state is wonderful for nature lovers, it just depends what your nature preference is and also what your weather preference. Also... are you looking only at small to medium size towns?

[NorthwestRepublic]

Amerideaf there is more to Western Washington than Seattle and Bellingham. There are plenty of conservative blue collar towns outside of those cities.

to the op instead of thinking liberal vs conservative think in terms of pretentious vs humble.

There are towns that think they rule the roost and are too good for the rest of the state
and there are towns that are content with who they are.

[elkotronics]

A really cool part of Washington state for me is Whidbey Island. Of course it probably doesn't hurt that I just finished up a job interview at Whidbey General Hospital. I found that Coupeville, WA, would be the best town in western Washington for me to live in. And I have been offered a job not there (yet, I hope) but in little 'ole Omak, WA, working for a large oxygen provider company. I was born in Seattle and raised in much smaller but connected to Seattle, Edmonds, WA.

And to add to this I was just offered a job in Shiprock, NM, that I verbally accepted already. We would be living in Farmington, NM, a city of 46,000 people that has all of the modern amenities. I would be working in Shiprock, NM, at the Navajo Indian Facility, a "less than 50-bed hospital".

Choices are good, eh? Desert or wet side of my home state of Washington? Should I accept the easier oxygen/helping people with their breathing issues eastern Washington? I have a sister already living in Okanogan, WA, so I'd have family living nearby. Wow-I'll let ya all know which job of the two already offered me I take and one that I wish to have, on the southern, historical (because of the beautiful ships and docks) Whidbey Island.

Choices are good. Yes.

[amerideaf]

>>I'd suggest you visit Yakima first before deciding to live in it.<<<

A job is a job! Several deaf applicants changed their minds after finding out about the real Yakima so the deaf director in Spokane "recruited" me for the deaf service position. I will stay here for 4 or 5 years before going full retirement.

[Inkpoe]

Originally Posted by amerideaf

>>I'd suggest you visit Yakima first before deciding to live in it.<<<

A job is a job! Several deaf applicants changed their minds after finding out about the real Yakima so the deaf director in Spokane "recruited" me for the deaf service position. I will stay here for 4 or 5 years before going full retirement.

OP doesn't have a job lined up in Yakima... so the advice still stands.



I'm not surprised Deafies changed their minds after finding out about Yakima. Even the ones that grew up in Yakima leave the first chance they get; Usually they head for Seattle (or Portland/Vancouver if they attend WSD).

[nullgeo]

Generalizations work well in figuring out Washington state. And generalization is that liberal in Washington is really limited geographically to Olympia and north to Bellingham along the I-5 interstate corridor communities, which include the big one, Seattle. That said, that corridor is also 2/3 of the state's population.

Wenatchee is a nice area, though ... but not really liberal.