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Old 11-12-2007, 01:03 AM
 
Location: Washington
8 posts, read 31,019 times
Reputation: 11

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us: gay couple, 50's, enjoy city access but rural-ish living, dog-owners (not negotiable), middle class $$, liberal, like our privacy but not hermits, enjoy the water (fish, boat etc)...main breadwinner in construction (architectural restoration), other non-working (health issues) requires access to good hospitals and medical care.

where should we live - in the Seattle-Tacoma-Olympia area?

appreciate any input you can give us.
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Old 11-12-2007, 07:22 AM
 
42 posts, read 144,979 times
Reputation: 26
It might be a stretch as it's not commuting distance to Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia, but if you don't need that, you might look at Port Townsend. Don't know that it meets all your criteria, but I seem to remember reading that it was one of the more liberal areas in WA, certainly is around the water, and as for architectural restoration, seems like a perfect fit. Although it's not a big city, access to Seattle is pretty good. I'm sure others could elaborate as well as make other suggestions.
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Old 11-12-2007, 12:55 PM
 
Location: Olympia
1,024 posts, read 4,128,528 times
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Hoosierette,
My suggestion is Olympia. It's a liberal town that offers all the amenities, including good health care (two hospitals), rural living with access to water, and within an easy drive to Tacoma and Seattle. I'm not sure about the demand for someone doing architectural restoration, but, like I mentioned, you can easily commute to Tacoma.

Sandy
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Old 11-12-2007, 11:03 PM
 
Location: Cosmic Consciousness
3,871 posts, read 17,069,495 times
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Seattle will welcome you, as will Bellevue, Kirkland, Redmond, Issaquah and many of the other outlying cities. We have active and vocal gay and lesbian communities here, fully integrated with the straights, liberals, conservatives, rednecks, academics, tech-geeks, lawyers, secretaries, and so forth. My point is that there is a gentleness, a kindness, a welcoming simplicity to people in western Washington that one doesn't find everywhere, and I've lived 22 of my adult years here.

The only areas I would NOT recommend are farming communities, largely because you’d have pretty much no one to talk with and nothing to do. I’d also not recommend south of Seattle as there is more crime there than Seattle, east of Seattle, west of Seattle, and north of Seattle.

People are pretty accepting and welcoming here; I wonder if it has to do with the fact that the longest and last covered wagon treks arrived here, and folks really had to help each other out.

Plan to come here -- you'll be surprised as how happy you'll be here. :-)
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Old 11-13-2007, 12:19 AM
 
Location: Cosmic Consciousness
3,871 posts, read 17,069,495 times
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In addition --

WORK: There seems to be a fairly steady stream of architectural restoration projects here, esp. in downtown Seattle. I used to work for an architectural firm in Seattle which did some resto work and of course had peers doing same -- from the boring plumbing retrofits in early-1900s schools to detailed woodwork restoration in older SFR mansions. This whole area (western WA) was originally logging and mining communities and often the public and private buildings were constructed at the turn of the century, and a whole historic building genre has developed here, including historic/antique salvage.

WATER people, eh? You couldn't find a better place! Water water everywhere -- think of a type of body of water, it's here. And it seems as though at least half the population has the toys to enjoy that fact.

MEDICAL RESOURCES: I spent the first 30 years of my life in NYC, and so I know something about top-notch medical facilities. Seattle-Bellevue's medical and dental facilities are, I think, second to none. (If you want to send me a PM I can discuss specifics.) Suffice it to say that people come from pretty much all over the world to the many centers here for specialized care, and WA and Oregon even have a volunteer Northwest Medical Team which is sent to emergency locations throughout the world to assist after earthquakes, terrorism attacks, wars, etc. Spectacular medical scene, I believe. A whole gaggle of them saved my life about four times in two days when I didn't know it needed saving. Just a small personal endorsement there.

DOGS NOT NEGOTIABLE: sORRY, No dogs allowed in Washington State. Hahahaha!! With me it's cats -- not negotiable. OF COURSE your dog/dogs will be greeted with joy here. And that goes for not all but most apartment buildings and condos, unless you share your lives with a dozen Mastiffs and Danes - they might pose problems. But not to worry, doggies be happy here. LOTS of doggies here, even off-leash parks here and there.

RURALISH-CITYNESS: Parts of Bellevue and Redmond, maybe a bit of Kirkland, lots of Issaquah, almost all of Snoqualmie (city, not Snoqualmie Pass, that's one of the mountain passes, altho that too if you want tons of snow), Preston, North Bend, Fall City, Carnation. And those are just the locations immediately east of Seattle. Lots of suburban or semi-rural or rural in the places I just named, and all just a 10- to 20-minute drive (or longer public bus ride) to downtown Seattle with all its theatres, office buildings, restaurants, or to shopping malls in other directions.

TACOMA: Unfortunately I don't recommend the area, as over my 22 years here Tacoma's unhappy main rep is for crime.

OLYMPIA: is the state capitol so beauraucrats abound. Good for lawyers, politicians, lobbyists. For others? I wouldn't live there -- I'm an artist, writer and mystic. Some beautiful areas are south of Olympia with lots of forests, but the best architectural scene and medical facilities are in Seattle. The daily commute between Oly and Sea would be impossible -- too long and too crowded.

Next question? :-)
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Old 11-13-2007, 09:01 AM
 
Location: Olympia
1,024 posts, read 4,128,528 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by allforcats View Post
...I’d also not recommend south of Seattle as there is more crime there than Seattle...
Olympia crime index in 2006 = 341.1
Seattle crime index in 2006 = 558.9

Source: City Data
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Old 11-13-2007, 11:59 AM
 
5,595 posts, read 19,012,775 times
Reputation: 4816
Just a word of caution when using City-Data's crime index numbers. I'm finding in almost all cases that a larger city will tend to have larger crime index numbers. With that in mind, it's more productive to use the crime index numbers to compare cities or towns that are similar in size.
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Old 11-19-2007, 11:13 PM
 
Location: Washington
8 posts, read 31,019 times
Reputation: 11
Default thanks all

thanks so much for all the information; much of it filled in some very big blanks for us. we appreciate all the responses and look forward to our move.
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Old 11-19-2007, 11:19 PM
 
Location: Washington
8 posts, read 31,019 times
Reputation: 11
Default oops forgot to ask

does anyone know how medical emergencies are handled on the islands that are only accessible by ferry? for example, Vashon? We saw a house we love there [on the Net] but worry about quick access to emergency care as one of us is a heart patient. thanks again.
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Old 11-20-2007, 12:53 AM
 
97 posts, read 426,740 times
Reputation: 33
Two very GLBT friendly cities in Washington are Olympia and Seattle.

Olympia is the more natural feel, very liberal, lots of space, close to several hospitals, and you can certainly be private (I'd say the average Washingtonian is pretty anti-social anyways). There is a large gay and lesbian population in the city and it is celebrated.

Seattle may lack the amenities that you request minus many many hospitals but has a hotspot of gay/lesbian friendly nightlife. The Capital Hill district of Seattle is full of clubs, bars, and whatever to suit a highly liberal GLBT friendly area. Even the church on Broadway Street flies the Rainbow Flag.

I didn't want to highlight the fact that you were gay versus your other needs but I figured it would be of some interest to know about the hotspots.
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