We are moving to the Walla Walla, Wa area and need info please! (Seattle: apartments, rental)

[skinem]

They and the area usually vote red.
The town has one of the nation's major 7th Day Adventist colleges located there and a strong 7th Day Adventist presence, morman and Catholic presence...this is a genralization, but those groups are usually pretty conserative.

On the other hand, so is Whitworth college--fairly liberal.

Don't you love labeling people and places?

[j_k_k]

Originally Posted by skinem

On the other hand, so is Whitworth college--fairly liberal.

Small typo there: Whitworth's up north; Whitman is the one in Wally. But I concur with the general observation. 'Balanced' does not mean 'leaning to my particular ideology'. 'Balanced' would mean 'having many ideologies well represented.'

[Anders15]

Not sure if anyone has been to Richmond, VA but if so I was hoping someone could point out the differences. I have been researching my move (hate to seem like someone waiting for hand outs) but just found out job was taken and only other option is walla walla. I had my original trip for Kent. What are the major differences? How "small" is Walla Walla?

[skinem]

Originally Posted by j_k_k

Small typo there: Whitworth's up north; Whitman is the one in Wally. But I concur with the general observation. 'Balanced' does not mean 'leaning to my particular ideology'. 'Balanced' would mean 'having many ideologies well represented.'

Thanks--Whitman's the one I meant.

Not a typo--a brain cramp!

[oregonn8v]

Originally Posted by Anders15

Not sure if anyone has been to Richmond, VA but if so I was hoping someone could point out the differences. I have been researching my move (hate to seem like someone waiting for hand outs) but just found out job was taken and only other option is walla walla. I had my original trip for Kent. What are the major differences? How "small" is Walla Walla?

Walla Walla is approximatdely 35,000. If you include the surrounding communities (i.e. College Place) it swells to around 50,000. Considerably smaller than Richmond, VA at 200,000. Also, Walla Walla is not as diverse a community as Richmond. I believe that Walla Walla is approximately 75% white. Richmond is over 50% African American.

Crime is much more prevelant in Richmond than in many places in the US, especially Walla Walla. I don't know that you can really compare the two cities. It would be like comparing Sacramento, CA to Harrisonburg, VA. They are nothing alike except that people live and work there.

[Chrysaliswriter]

We, too, are looking around the PNW for a place to retire from Portland, Oregon. We've lived in 5 different states, most of them sunbelt areas, and it makes deciding on a place to "land" even more challenging, I think. We do have some questions which I have not seen addressed, but I may have missed it. Forgive me, if this has been covered in earlier posts.
1) What are property taxes like in Walla Walla area?
2) What is the allergy situation there? High winds? Agriculture there pose a problem to folks with seasonal allergies?
3) How is Walla Wall fairing in the current recession?
4) Is there a local hospital or medical center that has an overall good reputation and provides full facility, i.e. cardiac care, cancer/oncology clinics, women's health center, etc.

Additional questions would concern:

Amount of snow per annum (maximum depth at any given snow fall)
Passenger air service between Portland and Walla Walla Regional Airport
(I didn't find much getting into the website)
Amtrak service Portland to Walla Walla
Are there clubs and organizations supported by the local colleges
Classes for Seniors nominal fee or free

Thanks to any of you who are able to take the time to provide some info and feedback. Walla Walla is one place we are very interested in visiting, and want to gather as much info as possible before doing so.

[oregonn8v]

Originally Posted by Chrysaliswriter

We, too, are looking around the PNW for a place to retire from Portland, Oregon. We've lived in 5 different states, most of them sunbelt areas, and it makes deciding on a place to "land" even more challenging, I think. We do have some questions which I have not seen addressed, but I may have missed it. Forgive me, if this has been covered in earlier posts.
1) What are property taxes like in Walla Walla area?
2) What is the allergy situation there? High winds? Agriculture there pose a problem to folks with seasonal allergies?
3) How is Walla Wall fairing in the current recession?
4) Is there a local hospital or medical center that has an overall good reputation and provides full facility, i.e. cardiac care, cancer/oncology clinics, women's health center, etc.

Additional questions would concern:

Amount of snow per annum (maximum depth at any given snow fall)
Passenger air service between Portland and Walla Walla Regional Airport
(I didn't find much getting into the website)
Amtrak service Portland to Walla Walla
Are there clubs and organizations supported by the local colleges
Classes for Seniors nominal fee or free

Thanks to any of you who are able to take the time to provide some info and feedback. Walla Walla is one place we are very interested in visiting, and want to gather as much info as possible before doing so.

I will answer as many questions of your's as I can. I have some of this information handy as my family is considering a move to Walla Walla for a job I am being considerd for.

We also live in Portland so I can give you some comparissons.

1) Property taxes seem about the same based upon house/propery value. You can get more home/property for your $$ in Walla Walla, but a $500,000 home will run you around $5,000/year in taxes.

2) Can't speak to allergy situation

3) Walla Walla is actually doing fairly well. They main employers are the three colleges (Walla Walla College, Whitman College, & Walla Walla University), the State (Prison), and agriculture (onions, wheat & vinyards).

4) There are two local hospitals; St. Mary's Medical Center (www.smmc.com) and Walla Walla General Hospital (www.wwgh.com)

5) Don't know about annual snowfall or max depth but it will be more than Portland.

6) No direct air service between Portland and Walla Walla. Horizon Air flies between Seattle and Portland daily (I beleive) and then you could get Alaska/Horizon from Seattle to Portland. It would be faster to drive (approx. 4 hours)

7) Don't know about Amtrack

8) Don't know about clubs/organizations/auditable classes.

Regarding retiring to Walla Walla, read this article - Retirement Living - Best Places to Retire 2006 from Money Magazine

Money Mag ranked Walla Walla one of the top communities in 2006 for retirement.

Hope this helps some. I'm sure others will chime in as well.

[skinem]

2. a.As far as allergies go, it's a toss up. What are you allergic to? Some people really suffer some don't. When I was a teenager and would go to WW, allergies would kill me. I've outgrown them. I had them terrible back east as an adult, but they went away when we moved to about 45 minutes away from WW. My daughters, who previously had no allergies, developed them after we moved there.
Most folks there don't have allergies due to ag--it's due to naturally occurring things...

b. It's windy enough that one of the nations largest wind farms is not too far away at Wallula.

No Amtrak.

[Chrysaliswriter]

Thanks for the quick replies to my questions. Allergies? Grasses, sage brush mostly. Wind can increase the intensity of the symptoms in people with allergies (my husband, mostly suffers from allergies). Will need to make a trip back there to stay a few days and check things out. Sorry to hear that Amtrack and passenger air lines are not fully servicing folks traveling from Portland to Walla Walla. Our adult children and grandkids live in the Portland area, and I was hoping for another way, besides driving, for commuting that distance. I know the Columbia River Gorge gets treacherous once the freezing rains and inclement weather is upon us! Thanks again to Skinem and Oregon8V for responding to my questions!

[skinem]

Originally Posted by Chrysaliswriter

Thanks for the quick replies to my questions. Allergies? Grasses, sage brush mostly. Wind can increase the intensity of the symptoms in people with allergies (my husband, mostly suffers from allergies).

If your husband is allergic to grasses and sagebrush, he may have a problem then...plenty of both in the area...My above post mentioned my daughters developing them when we moved to the area...the thing one of them was allergic to was sagebrush.

As far as driving the gorge, it usually is ok. Over several decades of doing that trip, we have been hung just a couple of times, the longest that I can remember was for 2 or 3 days (back in the mid or late 90s) before it was cleared. It usually is closed for very short times , but driving can be slow through it or through the area between in and WW. Seriously, it is an exception, and if you live there a while, driving in it just becomes second nature for you.

As far as flights go, you should be able to catch fairly regular flights to PDX out of Pasco, about an hour more or less away.

One other thing I forgot to mention about the hospitals...the two local hospitals are full service. We had to avail ourselves of them or WW docs on occasion rather than the smaller, local community hospital and were always very happy with our treatment. However, please be aware than for some more complicated procedures or serious issues you'll probably be sent to Spokane. Many of the docs that practice in the WW area are actually only there one or two days a week and are based out of Tri-Cities or Spokane.