Unbiased review on yakima, wa. Just visited 9/3/2015 (Seattle, Vancouver: real estate, hotels)

[mikvegas]

SOME INFO ON THE REVIEWER: AIR FORCE BRAT, HAS LIVED IN MANY DIFFERENT STATES AND A FEW DIFFERENT COUNTRIES IN DIFFERENT TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTS AND WEATHER. CURRENTLY LIVING IN LAS VEGAS, NV and seeking to relocate. Has lived in Arizona, Nevada, Nebraska, Minnesota, Michigan and in the U.P of Michigan, Louisiana Plus in the countries of Germany and the Philippines. Grandfather lives in Gig Harbor, Wa so have visited Yakima several times on my way to the Seattle area and 1 week has been my longest stay. (car broke down).

This review is for anybody looking to relocate. Again I am not a local. This is a review is from someone who has only visited and explored the area. I stayed in the Budget INN on first street downtown Yakima as it was pet friendly and there is not a lot of hotels or motels that will allow you to do this. Yes this part of downtown seems a little shady, but nothing that made me fear for my life or scared to walk down the street. Saw a few shady characters that looked like drug addicts or homeless but that is about it. Just for comparisons for anybody that has visited Vegas. Fremont St in downtown Vegas and Im not talking about the part that is by the casinos and under the big Umbrella but the Fremont St headed east from there makes this place look like Disney Land. I had my wife and kid with me and never once felt like I had to look over my shoulder. For the most part felt safe and I ate breakfast at a restaurant called Waffles Caffe which by the way has awesome breakfast. Decided to stay the whole day to explore. Drove to the heart of the downtown area around 2nd through 6th streets there are alot of small shops and cafes. Some box offices stores also.

It seems that they are in revitalizing the downtown and actually looks very interesting. Also I just read an article that the city has approved the plans they have for a new central plaza downtown and a sports facility including 19 soccer fields and indoor pools downtown. The city planners are working with developers that helped shape Portland, Wa and Vancouver British Columbia.

Yes Yakima is around 30% hispanic, but it makes the area a little more diverse, but it is by no means southern California or Las Vegas. The areas people say that is bad in Yakima and are so scared to walk lol! is a 16 block radius or so from 1st street to 16th and as far as Union Gap area to the south. Its not a huge area and frankly you would I did not notice anything bad about the area. Heck When I was driving through the neighborhoods in that area I did not even notice it was a majority hispanic neighborhood. The houses looked nice and the yards looked well kept it was not until I saw some hispanic people walk out there houses or kids playing in the yard. This area was around Davis High School and the Yakima Regional Hospital not the Memorial Hospital. I also drove through the numbered streets south toward Union Gap. Not bad at all. No signs of Gang activity, nobody mad dogging me. I felt super safe. In California and Las Vegas You will definitely know right away when you enter the hispanic neighborhoods. Houses have boards on the windows, gates on the windows and doors and grafitti everywhere and store signs will all be is spanish. I did not see anything like that in Yakima. The only are I kinda knew right away that there was a alot of spanish in the area was In union gap area by the mall. I was on a street that I dont remember the name but there was a spanish Super Market and a taco hut or truck I cant remember on the corner. I did not notice any gang activity that made me fear for my life or my family. I am white and my wife is Japanese. Hell we shop in hispanic areas here in Vegas. At night lol! So for you out of towners looking to relocate if you are from a fairly large area You will not notice it. I promise. For people that are from smaller areas that are not so diverse, you will not have anything to fear. You probably wont find your self in those areas anyways, but if you happened to drive through it really is not bad at all. Just because its hispanic neighborhood does not mean its bad or dangerous. To me at least it seemed like a blue collar neighboor hood with a lot of hard working hispanic families. Not to say they dont have there few problems and teenage wanna be gang bangers who need a gun cause they cant fight. Or the drug delears. Im pretty sure they are there somewhere as all towns of all sizes have them. But it is not as bad as some of the people on these forums say it is. Or maybe its the people in the west valley that does not have alot of experience in those kinds of things and everytime they hear something in the news all of a sudden Yakima is South Central LA.

Now on to the good stuff. The surrounding area is beautiful. Two rivers flow through the town. They have a river walk with beautiful parks that line the river. As you leave town to the north there small towns in wine country. Apple and peach orchards. Fruit stands that line the streets and you can buy them fresh. People this is not a desert. Yes the hills are brown but far from a desert. Las Vegas is in a desert. No water! And One man made lake. Cactus and dirt and more dirt. There are alot of trees in the city of Yakima and its green. The neighbor hoods that surround downtown to around Eisenhower high are older houses that have character to them. Kind of reminds me of neighborhoods in California. Like San Pedro if anybody has been there. The West Valley is where most of the newer houses are and the neighborhoods are spreaded out. There were even some what looked like to me wineries between the neighboorhoods like in the area of wal mart in West Valley. There is a Community College, A technical College and Yes people a Medical School as of 2005. (Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences.) Median House prices are below 150,000 and less than 120 miles from Seattle.

The town has all the stores you need. Both major stores like Cost Co and smaller businesses as well. What I loved about it is there are small mom and pop shops in the middle of neighborhoods on small side streets like they have in California. Gives it alot of character. So people who are looking to relocate to the area just dont take the locals or even my word for it. Just go see for yourself.

[emouse]

Look in my list of responses. My last one is about the rough side of Yakima. People should listen to anyone who has lived there. You make a lot of good observations. But that is surface. There is a whole other reality underneath it all. I lived there thirty years. I would never go back there again except to visit.

[West coast at heart]

Great job OP!

[Matilda Farenheit]

Guess I should read more about Yakima, a large Hispanic population doesn't bother me at all... I grew up in Chula Vista, probably half my high school were Mexican. I looked at some real estate online and the prices are good, the areas are pretty and I like the idea of lots of fruit stands.