Moving to Bremerton/Kitsap Region

[saintsinner40k]

So I chatted a bit with her about things. Theatre in general from what she tells me isnt a high paying full time thing for the most part, except for those lucky few. Shes also getting into jewelry making right now as a side income, so I imagine if that takes off she wouldnt mind doing that full time from home (we are both artsy types) & ferrying into seattle once a week or so to help run some shows.

With everything I'm reading from you folks & my own research, I think this would be much preferable as we really do like everything we see about kitsap county compared to king county, & wouldnt mind just going into seattle proper when we feel like it rather then relying on jobs there.

I imagine even a part time service industry gig at a coffee shop + her own artistic shop endeavors online would be able to keep her occupied without having to commute too much across the sound.

Overall thank you to everyone who has chimed in here. Its giving us both a very clear picture of what it will be like up there.

[carolochs]

If you are on Facebook......this is a post you may want to read (just posted this week) as per renting in Kitsap County, multi-property landlord to be wary of:
https://www.facebook.com/sara.l.ande...06025453315817

[Jennifer j]

I live in Bremerton and hate it. And there's so much to hate about it; where to begin?!? To all the previous posters, I get it: you like being isolated. You like small minds and even smaller opportunities. There's just nothing here. If you like strip malls: kitsap has many. If you like old abandoned buildings: they're plentiful all along the Main Street/ road that passes through the town: it's called highway 303 which turns into "Waaga Way", then to Wheaton then into Warren Avenue. It's all one highway/ road/ street, whatever. It's a ghost town with little cheesy fast food joints, pawn shops, gas stations and the odd small business trying to make a buck here and there. Bremerton has had its glory days- but that was before the 1990's. It had a reprisal so to speak, around 2006-9. There was a lot of money and excitement around redeveloping Bremerton and money from the housing bubble poured in- until the bubble inevitably burst and local community leaders such as Norm McLaughlin made off with a ton of cash. The county is in debt to its eyeballs because people who have lived here for decades are uneducated and uninformed and will listen to anyone who sounds like they know what they're talking about and then buy-in to whatever is being proposed thus mortgaging all of us good kitsap county taxpayers futures on their short- sided ideas. Unfortunately the place is so ugly that I hate to even walk my dog here. That's not to say that there aren't beautiful places here – pockets of beauty. For example in Bremerton there is a place called "Lyons Field". It's a park that also has a basketball court tennis court and a baseball field. It also has a nice big lawn area where you can have a picnic or play frisbee or whatever. And it's right on the water! So there is a small beach to play on our walk on. But right outside of Lions field is a residential area that is crime ridden. The houses are literally falling apart. They're owned by slumlords such as Jim Avery who doesn't do anything for his residents. Except to raise the rent. You might be surprised to learn that my husband and I are well-off and have our selves worked here in government capacity jobs. We both have a good college education and are well-traveled. My husband came here through the Navy and I came here when I was in my 20s because I have family here. We had children and raised them here and always talked about moving away. We chose not to because we could never get the timing right. We didn't want to disrupt our children's lives and our careers. What a mistake! I think the worst thing about Bremerton is not just how ugly it is, and how little opportunity there is, but how small the minds are of many of the people that live here. I do think there's room for people to prefer to live in Kitsap, because not everyone is the same and not everyone wants the same things for themselves, obviously. But I think is the biggest shame is that there is money here. There's just such a limited pool of opportunity. What I mean by that is we may have a college here but what is there to do outside of going to college except going to a bar? Or you can go hiking. But not everybody likes to hike. Or you can go walk around at Lions field just don't dare to walk outside of it. There is also what's called the Bremerton waterfront where the beautiful restaurant Anthony's is located. Right next to it are beautiful condominiums. On one side their view is the water on the other side it's a gigantic parking garage. There's also some dingy bars and other low-end type of things. Silverdale is no better. There waterfront is a joke. They have a really nice waterfront Park but that's it. Right next to the waterfront Park is a very old apartment building that is in decay. It's a total eyesore. There's also a low rent dilapidated bar literally had joining the parking lot to the park. And once again there's little places that are dotted here and there where local businesses have tried to make a go of things. But overall it just has potential but nobody's doing anything about it. When I say nobody I mean there's opportunity for big money to come in and help make Bremerton and Silverdale beautiful. But as it stands today it's a dump. Oh and don't even get me started on Port Orchard. There's no hope for that little town! Capital DUMP! Although they do have a cute little theater downtown. Other than that it's like Bremerton only ten times worse! Think old trailer houses next to builder grade houses with broken cars filling their yards- sometimes even behind privacy fences that are often falling down. They do have an expensive neighborhood called McCormick woods. That's where many people live that want to isolate themselves from the dingy lives beyond their grubby Kitsap neighbors. It's kind of strange though because there's not much opportunity for them to do anything either. In fact the nearest grocery store is about 5 to 10 miles away? I'm not sure. My husband and I looked at houses in there A few times and each time we were reminded that it is Port Orchard where the schools don't have enough money to keep themselves afloat. In fact every year the initiative to help pay for the schools is voted down. What kind of a community would do that to their children? Well the answer is they would! So overall I would say that there are good things and there are bad things about this community and there are many things that are sort of in the middle. Speaking of schools Central Kitsap high school has a great academic record. There are other good schools in the area as well. It's just the problem of living. I mean where you are going to reside. And then what are you going to do besides stare at wildlife out your window? Or walk in a very restricted area to keep away from crime. Or close your eyes and not look at the decay all around you. Or go along with the outdated ideologies of the people who've lived here forever and say that "things were so much better in the old days". They also add things like "when I was young we didn't have any of these things you all have". Things like I don't know indoor plumbing. It's basically ridiculous. Another really hilarious thing about Bremerton is that they have a so called arts community in downtown Bremerton where one of Bremerton his long-standing artists was allowed to put up this Metal sculpture piece. It is a flyfisherman. It's life-sized on a prominent corner in downtown Bremerton. The funny thing about it is that there is no flyfishing in Bremerton. In fact there's no connection whatsoever to flyfishing to Bremerton or its history. So I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a joke or if it was a result of one of their group think sessions.
The little part of Bremerton called Manette is cute. But again, there's not even a grocery store within 6-8 miles. And there's nothing to do. Plus it's quite mixed. There's trailer houses next to cute little houses. There's abandoned houses and houses that probably sell all manner of narcotics. We lived there for a few years. Never bought drugs of course but walked every inch of that neighborhood.
OK so I'll end this long rant by saying that we believe that Bremerton Washington is a place for people to live that are apathetic to their community and all that it represents. Including yourself. That's the word on the street: Bremerton equals apathy.

[Ruth4Truth]

There's a new Russian Orthodox Church in Silverdale, that's about 1/2 Russian and 1/2 American parishioners. They have a new choir director. I'm told it's really coming along, fwiw.

[CrazyDonkey]

Bremerton has largely been frozen in place since Kitsap County voted down the MVET. The ferries went from being essential ("state highways") to being conveniences (toll roads). Population and economic growth basically plateaued.