B. Carfree

I've been living in the Eugene, OR area for seventeen years after living in Davis, CA for twenty years. I have another four years committed here (grandpa duty), but I think it's time to start looking around a bit for where I would like to live next.

To be honest, I would be out of here yesterday if I hadn't committed to my adopted daughter that I would stick around while she does D.O. school. I'll give the low-lights of the past couple of months and I think it will be clear why I've had quite enough of Eugene:
Wife menaced by homeless people on main bike path (we live next to it, so it's kind of unavoidable); wife and I assaulted by homeless people two blocks from our house; attempted bike-jacking of adult son on bike path by homeless person; attempted mugging of son downtown; attempted murder of son and me by homeless person with car (she first threatened to run us over because we live in a house, then proceeded to give it a go); menacing of wife and me at shopping center near bike path terminus; attempted bike-jacking of wife and I on bike path.

We could not get police responses to any of these when we called them in. Eugene has allowed violent homeless people to simply take over all of the bike paths by allowing illegal camping along the river and creek. In addition, the underpasses on the bike paths have become nearly impassable because they congregate there for protection from the sun or rain. It's no big surprise that Eugene has now lost 43% of its cyclists since 2009, with no let up in this trend in sight. The number of people walking is dropping like a stone as well. It's really becoming a dystopian story in Eugene if you don't live in the hills on the southside.

So, what do I want in my new locale? Obviously, I want a place that isn't filled with crime. (Eugene's murder rate is up nearly six-fold over the past four years.) The things that I have really enjoyed about Eugene is that once I get out past the suburbs (maybe ten miles from town), the riding is pretty good. After twenty miles, it's simply fantastic. I have boatloads of logging roads and even paved forest service roads to ride for hours on end without any traffic at all. I'd love someplace that has that kind of riding. There is also a close-in loop of about 40 miles that's pretty nice. I prefer hills to flatlands. (Twenty years in Davis cured me of wanting to ride on flat roads.)

We have a bunch of natural food stores. It's great to have places to get quality produce and interesting foods. Not a deal-breaker if it's missing, but definitely a plus. I do need access to UPS or FedEx to ship packages out and decent postal service.

The most important thing is air quality. I've really had it with sooty air. All winter long we have morons burning, either in their yards or in fireplaces with the damper closed off (maximum smoke). Then in summer we are now forest fire smoke central. I really love rain these days just because it means I can ride without coughing up soot.

So, what say you people of the PNW? Where's a grand place to move to for someone who doesn't want to depend on a car for day-to-day things? Take your time, think about it and give me some places to check out. I've got nearly four years to make the call.

Seattle Forrest

This summer, a junkie broke the window to my car, and pulled my bike out, while I was taking a potty stop. In broad daylight, on a busy street. Bike is the only thing I own that I care about. I can relate to how you feel.

I'm about to send a PM recommending two places I love and don't want to see overcrowded.

B. Carfree

Ugh, bike thieves are such a low form of life it's hard to count them among humans. A stolen bike costs the person who has been robbed so much more than the thief gets in return I almost wish they would just ask for cash so the deal isn't such an all-around loser (but of course they would come back endlessly, so that's not going to work).

Thanks so much for the suggestions. I'm really going to try to overcome my procrastinating nature and learn enough to make a decision long before we get to graduation day so we can take some extended trips at various times of year to our new candidate homes.

In the meantime, I'm going to do everything I can to help Eugene get back to where it was, or at least to make it better than it is. I simply can't bring myself to mentally check out for four years. This place has unmatched potential, but it seems like every decision made by every person with authority is bass-ackwards wrong.

fietsbob

20 years ago , my 50th year, I spent most of 97 in the UK & Irish Republic, on a bike tour amateur music playing pub crawl,
then, when I came back ,

I moved way up north, Clatsop County.. 2013 I managed to find a house, bought from someone who missed the heat of Fresno.

Shifty

You should go up and hang out in Corvallis or Albany for a day or two, West Salem is really quite nice too.

B. Carfree

Corvallis is on the radar. It has the advantage that I could move there while my daughter is doing D.O. school. Her school is in Lebanon and her husband works in Eugene.

We had a neighbor who simply got tired of the effort it took to keep the thugs from taking over Sladden Park. She finally sold her house a few years ago and moved to Corvallis.

Corvallis has the First Alternative food store, decent cycling in the area (still have to be very watchful of time and place, and the trends don't look favorable for it continuing to have decent cycling nearby) and it is always nice to live near a university. The downside is that Amtrak doesn't run through it.

What's Albany got to offer, other than the train station? Years ago, when I first came to Oregon, I took a job delivering ice just so I could get the lay of the land. Albany always seemed kind of screwed up, kind of like Medford. The bike hate seemed palpable, and I was in a truck. I have ridden through it a dozen times or so on my way to/from PDX and none of those rides changed my opinion. What did I miss? It's easy to overlook awesome local loops when one is just passing through.

Rollfast

By the time you figure it out Eugene won't be Squaresville any more.

Rollfast

I've lived here for 34 years and I plan to be buried here.

B. Carfree

You're near the eastern border of Oregon, aren't you? Ontario maybe? What's it like and what do you like so much about it?

Rollfast

I'm 40-50 miles from most of my relatives and most of all, I'm not in Idaho. No offense to Idahoans, but I escaped in 1978 and I will live and die here and be buried next to the dead mall I spent 30 years of my life in...it's slowly coming back, the furniture store downtown that was going to move into the anchor spot collapsed last January in the freak winter storm, so did the skylights in the mall and part of their new home's roof and a corner of the Albertsons next to it...but it will open soon (the smaller strip mall nearby had an 8" water main burst and the medical center's clinic plus a popular restaurant were flooded out), those will probably reopen before December but the disaster cleanup crews were all over the place so the mall remodeling was greatly delayed.


Our city council has no clue how to run a city and has run us into the ground over the last 35 years while nearby Nyssa at 1/3 the population is rebuilding the entire school plant they started on after the 1975 fire and THEY manage their bonds and budgets quite responsibly...


But I still love this town and I love my small rental house that has been slowly repaired and remodeled over 11 years and moving is an absolute hassle on a Section 8 voucher as people abused the privileges and turned landlords off to HUD in a large (the regulations as well) and my landlord has treated me almost like his brother.


The traffic really isn't any better than yours, relatively speaking although it's much, much smaller (10,000) but this is my home. I though about La Grande briefly but it's too far from Mom.


There is no reason to roam. I am where I want to be. This was not how I felt when I came here in 1983 but it stuck.

RowdyTI

OP: you'd probably prefer a much smaller town, something the size of what Eugene was 50 years ago. 150,000 ppl is what Wiki says for Eugene and that's really a lot of hustle and bustle. Just looking at the Wiki images gives me nausea. Check out towns in in Idaho under 50,000.

Clyde1820

Air quality, a UPS/FedEx store for package shipments, no necessity for a car for everyday getting around: how about one of the smaller cities (larger towns) in either Idaho or Montana?

How about some of the smaller cities and larger towns of Idaho or Montana?

City-Data -- Idaho.
City-Data -- Montana.

If a larger place is more your speed (for smaller cities, 250K or under): Boise, ID. Has most everything of a larger city, though with an Idaho rural/ranching flavor stamp on the lifestyle. Its air quality, overall, is below average. Given all the ranching and agricultural in the area, along with the denser urban population, that's unsurprising.

If a smaller city is more what you're looking for (75K or smaller): Twin Falls, ID; down on the flats in either Idaho Falls or Pocatello, ID; Missoula, MT; or Butte, MT. All have a UPS or FedEx store.

If a smaller town is attractive: Hailey, ID. Exceptionally good air quality. Crime rates very low. Along Hwy 75, so anything out of town is out the highway. Has a UPS store. Boise is near enough, for a car trip, and that'll have everything you need for "big city" type shopping and entertainments. Otherwise, Hailey has most of the "basics," for a small place. World-class skiing is just up the road in Sun Valley / Ketchum. If wanting a bit more up-scale, for the smaller-town lifestyle: Ketchum, ID. Much more expensive housing than most of the others, but a quirky, interesting smaller "skiing/vacation" town.

If a downright puny, out-of-the-way spot is what you really want: Stanley, ID. Shrinking population, and really off the beaten path. Can be expensive housing, overall. But a fire-trail cyclist's dream. No UPS or FedEX store, though there is a USPS facility. Not really suitable, given your list of "needs" ... but, there you go.


Of course, there'll be snow and colder winter weather, and somewhat less precipitation overall, in ID/MT, as compared to what you're used to in the Eugene area.

Most of these places (above) tend to be relatively conservative (politically), though Missoula's a "college" town and fairly left-leaning for MT. Most of the rest tend to be hard-working populations that are far from the city type influences of the major metro zones, which tend toward the conservative. Lots of forest roads, fire trails and the like near these places.

Wildwood 

Bellingham

B. Carfree

Bellingham certainly looks enticing. Tell me more. (Channel your inner salesman and pitch it like you're the president of the local Chamber of Commerce.)

maallyn

I have been living in Bellingham since retiring from Intel/Oregon in May 2017.

Great retirement home; but job market sucks.

Housing is expensive because of retirement crush coming in.

If you own in Eugene, you might have chance to buy here in Bellingham. I don't know real estate prices in Eugene. Bellingham is about 1/2 of Portland as far as housing goes. My house here was about 1/2 of what a comparatble house is in Portland.

We do have bike theft problem in Bellingham, but not as bad as Portland. I don't know comparison between PDX and Eugene for bike theft.

We do have homeless in parks bat I have not seen encroachment on the bike trails; no where near as bad as situation on Springwater and I 205 trails in Portland.

We have about five shops in Bellingham, including one community non profit call The Hub.

Biking here, believe it or not, feels safer and more comfortable to me than parts of Portland.

Police attitudes toward bikes here is better than Portland. We have not had the stop sign stings that Portland has.

Summers are about 20 degrees cooler on the real hot days than Portland. Winters, though can be colder if we get the Fraser outflow from canada.

We are on the water; not a river city like Portland. Sea breezes can be stiff and damp and cold.

Overall, I love it; I only wish I made the decision to leave PDX years sooner.

Rollfast

A person recommended a city in Idaho with a population of under 20,000. What they are not taking into account is that those smaller towns are becoming suburban freeways to work in Ada and Canyon counties and no more safe for cyclists than the Metro area. I remember the wall to wall habitation 100 miles from Portland even in the early 2000s. In Washington state it's merely hidden by more trees.

In the end I would suggest you get to familiarize yourself better with where you are at, B.Carfree and learn to adapt. There is no turning back.

Wildwood 

I had typed a lot of bullet points, but BF dumped my reply.. @maallyn has the inside scoop.


I was listing all the outdoor possibilities with kayaking, hiking, skiing, lake fishing. And good biking chances 9 months a year.


Seattle and Vancouver 90 minutes if you need a big city fix, or an airport.


No state tax in WA.


I get the sense there is good community spirit.



edit: Assumed you are seeking a retirement location. Obviously, For better summer air quality, stay west of the Cascades in WA

Lummi First Nation wisdom. Finding magic tree conchs, offering inner peace.

Cyclist0108

Bend

Tell them you are originally from California, to get an extra warm welcome.

Cyclist0108

Ashland seemed fairly upscale when I drove through there. Unfortunately it too seems to live up to its name in terms of air quality.

I live up in the hills about 15 miles from downtown Santa Cruz, primarily because to live in the city limits you have to be a millionaire or a heroin addict (or both). Surely Eugene must have a nicer part of town you could move to for the remaining four years.

Wildwood 

Yes, Monterey Bay and the Santa Cruz area are truly heaven on Cycling Earth. But they come at a steep price.


If only California could secede from the USA, 6th largest economic country in the world. Oh well, they'd likely screw it up, too.

skimaxpower

Bellingham is terrible. Nobody should move there. In fact, it should be removed from the map and road signs so that no more Californians can find it to move there.

Shifty

Yes, it does.

maallyn

Why? I have had no issues here so far in Bellingham.

Cyclist0108

I saw a bumper sticker on a car in Bend which read "Bend Sucks. Don't move here."

Provincialism of the colonists.

Wildwood 

@maallyn - You will get BF reverse humor quickly. And how curmudgeon some people are regarding their favorite cycling location.