We are thinking moving to Spokane

Though my kids are grown and long gone (and producing g-kids like crazy), when we landed in Spokane's far north side, we were pleasantly surprised that the Mead School District where we located was not only one of the top in the State, but in the whole country. Mead contains Mead and Mt Spokane High Schools, and the requisite numbers of middle and elementary schools.

Recent reports concerning Spokane's School District 81 and its academic performance seem to be less complimentary. However dissatisfaction with this appears to be generating unrest in the City's neighborhoods. I'd be surprised not to hear about upcoming changes to the School Board as the electorate discovers how the existing upper-middle-class Board perpetuated its membership and focus over the past several elections by propitious resignations, just in time to create selected appointed incumbents for the next election. The result is representation disproportionately from upper-middle-class neighborhoods in Spokane's south and northwest.

Mead School District is predominantly outside of Spokane to the north. With the recent freeway construction work on the North Spokane Corridor, the Mead District's commute area will within a few years (some say as many as ten) access the downtown area in a time that will drop from about 30-35 to perhaps less than 20 minutes.

So, some of the schools around here are pretty darned good. One thing's for sure: for a 4-season city, Spokane has among the widest variety of neighborhood geographies that you might imagine. Kids could live in metro or the woods, and still find good schools.

Thanks again Old Timer. Sorry my response is a little late - school has started back up so things are a little crazy.

My husband wanted me to ask about hunting in the area - specifically upland birds... pheasant, quail, duck, goose. He doesn't hunt anything else. Being from Yakima originally, he has hunted that part of Washington extensively, but doesn't know much about the Spokane area.

Spokane is the most hunting-crazy area I've lived, and I've lived in several locales where the metallic density of the air rises noticeably in fall. Upland birds overrun the place. In fact, I've never seen more quail and pheasant anywhere. Chukar and desert fowl can be found in drier country to the west. Waterfowl hunting is less popular - not a lot of big marshes here - but there are a number of decent spots for it.

Funny you should ask. When we drive through an area called Morgan Acres, just across the city line north of Spokane, there are frequent traffic slowdowns thanks to a flock of a couple of dozen wild turkeys that are getting fatter as the growing season in peoples' gardens progresses. In my own yard, we have a chronic problem with grey squirrels, so if you come our way with small calibers...

But in the same yard, we have an almost-tame flock of quail that now number (my guess, now) over 35, and this is only one of maybe three flocks in a development of 150 homes.

If your guy is an upland-birder, he won't have any problems around here, believe me.

Yes, then there are the turkeys...and more turkeys. Like the pheasants, they were imported as game animals and then they took over. You'll learn exactly who feeds them because they congregate around those homes.

I've never seen flocks of turkeys in flight anywhere else. Quite a sight.

...a couple of Octobers ago, I took my little sailboat out on a local reservoir (Long Lake, aka Lake Spokane) to finish up the season before the frosts took over. I sailed too close to a little island on the lake and got yelled at by an invisible hunter (he and his boat were in excellent camouflage). As I breezed off, a flock came into range and he banged away. This to confirm that there are migratory bird opportunities in the area, too, though I haven't availed myself.

Thanks to both of you Northie and Old Timer. I'll share this info with my husband who will be thrilled to hear the news! I've always wanted to try wild turkey...

Jennifer wrote:

Currently my husband and I live in Vancouver/ Portland area. My husband is a train conductor for Burlington Northern and is going to be in Spokane for the next six months training to be a train engineer, well since Spokane will turn into his home terminal for 4 years we are thinking about moving there. Both of us are outdoor loving people, water, mountains, snow, hiking you name it we love it. I would like to know the pro’s and cons of the Spokane area! What is the best area to live in there?

Con:Do yourself a huge favor. DO NOT MOVE TO SPOKANE. We moved her from Lake Tahoe 20 years ago and have regretted every day. The "Red Necks" are alive in Spokane and it is a repressed backwards hick town. The city councel is a joke and the police are non-existant. Eating out is another problem. Trying to find a restaurnet that is clean will not happen unless it is a brand new huge chain. Even then, the place may still not be what you are used to. All the food has to be here is eatable. The Health Department may as well not even exist. The prices are also high. And another thing that can contribute to a lot of Spokane's problems is that they are CHEAP, VERY CHEAP.

True enough. Lots of people from richer places hate Spokane. I find that most of them simply haven't lived in poor cities and towns before; Spokane has been poor for decades upon decades.

No, Spokane does not exude wealth as the Seattle area now does; restaurants and grocers aren't what they are in Bellevue or Madison Park. In some ways, this is Tacoma without the charm, stuck in the middle of nowhere. Yes, people are cheap here, too territorial and too clubby, too tolerant of ignorance and selfishness, too religious and too conservative, too much in thrall to a few bullying old families who run the joint like a drunken private party.

On the other hand, Spokane sometimes also feels like the next Portland. A green city on the come, living on its position as a natural transport hub, with a great industrial and educational base upon which to build. I remember Portland decades ago as a notoriously cheap, conservative, corrupt and clubby town as well. Now look at it!

Spokane has boomed in the past eight years or so, and it's held up through the depression better than nearly any other city in the region. It's becoming a more liberal, more educated, more urbane place, but it's still a town where you can live within ten minutes of downtown and still have a fantastic landscape to explore right out your door. The more good people move in, the faster the old stuffiness and shabbiness dissipates.

Tim John wrote:

<quoted text>
I wouldn't come if I were you, the city is full of racist people. The town is part of the government's Federal Witness Protection Program, as such, you would discover strange things happening to your piracy. The city hates business owners and does not encourage new dynamic business adventures, the business sector is controlled by old money with old ideas (the city is not allowed to ‘Seattlizes’ and grow, the judicial system is controlled continuously in a state of ‘conflict of interests’ by Gonzaga Law School Graduates everybody knows everybody else in the courts and they all work against you if you try to change things in Spokane, oh, you better never talk bad about Gonzaga. The police here are racist, the housing market is ballooning because the rush from California, the town is a ‘who-you-know’ to get a job type of place to the 5th power, you don’t know no one you don’t get a job. The nightlife is a joke, there are no radio stations allowed in Spokane unless you like junk, the city hates diversity. If you are an inner-racial couple you are not welcome and if you are a minority couple you are not welcome. Everybody is in everybody’s business so you must stay in your house with the doors locked!
But other than these facts Spokane is quiet…the city does not grow, so if your family comes, that means someone else and their family MUST leave!
,..don't say someone didn't warn you!

Wow.... I didn't know anyone here and got a very nice job at a large bank. Perhaps you need to change your attitude if you want the city to as well.

Northie wrote:

True enough. Lots of people from richer places hate Spokane. I find that most of them simply haven't lived in poor cities and towns before; Spokane has been poor for decades upon decades.
No, Spokane does not exude wealth as the Seattle area now does; restaurants and grocers aren't what they are in Bellevue or Madison Park. In some ways, this is Tacoma without the charm, stuck in the middle of nowhere. Yes, people are cheap here, too territorial and too clubby, too tolerant of ignorance and selfishness, too religious and too conservative, too much in thrall to a few bullying old families who run the joint like a drunken private party.
On the other hand, Spokane sometimes also feels like the next Portland. A green city on the come, living on its position as a natural transport hub, with a great industrial and educational base upon which to build. I remember Portland decades ago as a notoriously cheap, conservative, corrupt and clubby town as well. Now look at it!
Spokane has boomed in the past eight years or so, and it's held up through the depression better than nearly any other city in the region. It's becoming a more liberal, more educated, more urbane place, but it's still a town where you can live within ten minutes of downtown and still have a fantastic landscape to explore right out your door. The more good people move in, the faster the old stuffiness and shabbiness dissipates.

You sound like a typical Spokaneite. However, unlike you, I will not assume anything about where you are from or how rich or poor you are. That is not the issue. I have both on my family tree. My father's side of the family was very wealthy and my mother's side was poor. My father never did make it like his siblings so I grew up in a poor family. I was always taught that one should be respectful of each person and not judge them blindly. Unfortunately that flew out the window when we moved here over 20 years ago from a SMALL TOWN of 35,000. That town is Lake Tahoe and it is not wealthy by any means. Mostly it is a very poor working class town that is funded by the more fortune tourisits and gambling. I have also visited over a dozen different states and countless cities in the US. Spokane is by far the worst city I have ever in my life been too. My IPS address is located in Tacoma, however, I live in Spokane, WA and have for the past 20 years. This place is a real joke and I find that most young people here who have just graduated and are looking to start a new life and career get the heck out of Spokane and don't look back. Spokane is a real pit. Just because you're poor doesn't mean you have to live in filth. It also doesn't mean you have to be ignorant. Do your research before you cast aspersions on other people. There are very rich people in Spokane as well as the poor. Your net worth has no bearing on how you choose to live your life. This is only my opinion. If you have a different one then that's your purgative. Oh, by the way I am very very poor on a very limited fixed income.

Dirty Bird wrote:

All true, but you've left out the revolving door at the "Nervous Hospital".

what is the nervous hospital?

My, my. I'm always surprised when people blame places for their own life's journey. I, too, am on a limited fixed income, but have been in Spokane (this time) only about ten years. I returned when I and my wife literally "shopped" for a place to live after travelling around the world and a one-year tour of the US states where we hadn't lived.
In today's newspaper, Spokane's poorest community is highlighted as having the best improvement record of any of Eastern Washington's neighborhoods; this is on the same page that describes the community coming together to make sure local kids have enough to eat via a volunteer program set up through the schools, and funded by people who care. Most don't know that Spokane's poorest neighborhood in 2000 was named in 2009 as the 2d-place winner in the national Neighborhoods, USA competition. In 2011, its two adjoining neighborhoods joined it in winning the first-place special achievement award for a community-based long range planning effort, cited as an example for communities statewide. In 2010, Spokane's NE neighborhoods celebrated their 100th community Festival, and opened up an entirely rejuvenated business district, with new streets, sidewalks, upgraded buildings, street trees & lighting, and (during a recession) three more businesses than they started with. Today, this district has fewer vacant business spaces than in 2007. Meanwhile, a panel of City-designated citizens is evaluating the formerly abandoned industrial area for creating the City's newest and biggest commercial/manufacturing area, to create new jobs for local residents. These facts (yes, facts) offset opinions based on personal, bad experiences of dissatisfied residents who don't get out much in the real world. There are plenty of active volunteer organizations in Spokane, making it a more vibrant example of a place where caring people can take part and make a real difference. My advice: don't pay attention to those who deal in insults--look for those who appreciate opportunity and future possibility.

i cant wait to move to spokane from las vegas my wife and i have a 7month old who we will not raise here in vegas i have never been there i have no family there i have read so much about spokane and looked at pictures on the net we are sold i must say i cant wait to move we are looking at moving in june i am so excited...i read most of the comments and i see alot of negitive people who have had alot of negitive experinces there are problems everywhere but that isnt going to shy me away i am still trying to see where to rent a house is good area everyone says south hill but i like the valley and mead who knows i am still trying to get more info if ya got any suggestions let me know thanks

One new website is for the Greater Hillyard Business Association, a 501C6 Business Association that plays a wider role for some of the communities than a Chamber of Commerce.(Hillyard is one of the neighborhoods in the NE part of Spokane; others are Whitman, Bemiss, Logan, Minnehaha.)

Officers of the GHBA can be found at GHBAinfo@gmail.com. Ask your questions there, leave some contact information, and one of the members of the Association will be glad to field it for you. We try to respond within at least 48 hours to any request, in some form.

Do not confuse this community development group with the "Lesser Hillyard Business Association," another group of fun-loving local residents who enjoy each others' company and beverages in weekly meetings. There was a recent article about these friends of ours in the Spokesman-Review, the local newspaper. You can find that article at Spokesman.com .

PS: today, one of the biggest health care organizations in the west announced it's moving its billing and finance operations from a Seattle suburb to Spokane, bringing some 250 new jobs to the area. Now would be a great time to consider the future in our neck of the woods.

My husband and I are considering moving to Spokane from Ohio. I don't really have any questions at this time. Thanks to the internet we've been able to research everything. Our next step is to come this summer and see for ourselves. We are leaving a city similar in size because it has the highest poverty rate in the country. Unemployment is so much worse here. However I see from the grocery ads and realty listings---- the cost of living is surprisingly a lot higher. The weather appeals to us. Especially the dry summers. We're very used to snow. We consider ourselves to be very conservative but very tolerant of others views. We are very used to a much more ethnically diverse population. The restaurants look rather boring to me. Less international cuisines from the look of it. But we'll see. Just want to live surrounded by beautiful terrain.

i move here 6 months a go from California, i already got broke in twice, racism? yes, traffic? almost 24/7
there is good thing too, but feels like the gobermnet has a diferent ideas around here. im not tell you to move here or not, these is just my experience.

Thank you to those who actually had something of value to communicate. Both positive and negative. It is much appreciated. I will be visiting to see what is up.
Best!

Paul Hadley wrote:

<quoted text>Con:Do yourself a huge favor. DO NOT MOVE TO SPOKANE. We moved her from Lake Tahoe 20 years ago and have regretted every day. The "Red Necks" are alive in Spokane and it is a repressed backwards hick town. The city councel is a joke and the police are non-existant. Eating out is another problem. Trying to find a restaurnet that is clean will not happen unless it is a brand new huge chain. Even then, the place may still not be what you are used to. All the food has to be here is eatable. The Health Department may as well not even exist. The prices are also high. And another thing that can contribute to a lot of Spokane's problems is that they are CHEAP, VERY CHEAP.

First of all, I feel sorry for someone that has regeretted his move for 20 years and not done anything with it. Sorry the chemistry between you and the city hasn't worked out.

Your racist talk about "redneck can you bring back to Lake Tahoe. Knoing the climate there I think it is more of them there. It's funny, uou can call someone redneck , but not redskin. And it is the same.

If you cannot find any "clean" restuarant in Spokane, I think you need to start taking some Prozac for thatOCD of yours. First you say the prices are high and then you say it is a bad think they are cheap?? Or are you saying people are "cheap"? Who knows..

I do agree with you that police could take it easy a bit more with nonsense and start going after thugs more. However, it is not a make or break issue.

Sorry you have spent 20 years of your life to regret something you could change instantly.

VeganTiger wrote:

Your racist talk about "redneck

Do you ever think before posting?

Redneck is NOT a racist term you moron. Rednecks are not a race.

The term originated from "mule farmers' outdoors labor in the sun, wearing a shirt and straw hat, with the neck exposed."

So it actually describes a hard working man, something you obviously have no clue about.