quote:

Originally posted by Scooter123:
Never been there and never want to go anywhere on the west coast. It doesn't matter where you are talking about every single state is run by liberals with a severe issue of rectal cranial inversion. As a result taxes are outrageous and gun rights are being eliminated as fast as the liberals can get it done. I would advise your son to find a different employer, because any company thinking about opening up a facility in one of these shithole west coast states is a bunch of Losers.

Never been there huh. Like MI. is a utopia of all that is right in the world. Great

This attitude is just ignorant. The vast majority of communities in these states are good, decent, hard working people. And I am not talking about just white folks. I am talking about all people.

The liberal elites in the cities and along many coastal area's are the ones ruining it for the rest. Don't lump every one in to one category. That does nothing but but hand these people the keys.

Yup, a lot of longtimers have been calling it quits. I've had several friends vacate this place during the past decade thanks primarily to the inane extreme left politics and woke policies that have lead to so much of the homelessness, crime and downright shittyness WA now sees and has become.

But when I out get into the outdoors and away from all of the two-legged vermin and cretins in the towns and cities it really makes this a damn hard to leave this place that's been my home for my entire life, gray skies, rain and all.

That's WA for you, in crib notes form. As for Vancouver; I haven't been down that way in some time, since the firm I once worked for did an office building down there. So I can't speak about how bad that city's become, but if it's anything like how towns closer to me and away from the Oregon border have been deteriorating towards, it can't be good.

quote:

1- Where are decent places to live in Vancouver? He will be renting a two bedroom apartment.
2- What is the true level of day to day crime? Some sources say it varies by neighborhood.
3- Some sources indicate there is an exodus of Portlanders into Vancouver and bringing their problems with them. True?
4- What are the driving conditions in Vancouver as opposed to Portland? Gas appears expensive there. Are roads in good condition? How expensive is car insurance / license plates?
5- Whats the level governmental insanity? Looks like they have fully embraced the 10 round magazine and the 10 day wait to buy a gun.
6- Is it possible to live in Vancouver without experiencing the Portland problems?
Any info would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

I live in Tacoma, but have my father in law in Battleground (just outside of Vancouver) and he and his wife have four rentals in the area. My wife has plenty of family in Portland area too (both now and having left too).

1) The answer to this is "it depends". Vancouver is a big area and parts of the city have issues, but it's easy to get outside of the city. It all depends on how close he wants to be to work.
2) It depends on where you live. Deep in the City it's about as bad as any city with a major shithole next to it. As you get outside Vancouver, or into more residential it gets better. But the crime is basically property crimes, not violent, no matter where you go. His neighborhood is a good area, I have no idea what it is in comparison to NOLA. I've never been there and in my head it's close to Thunderdome levels.
3) I honestly don't know, but I doubt it. It's like leaving Dallas to go to Ft. Worth. If you're leaving, you are leaving and going far away, but housing prices will tell the tale for this. If they are going up, then people are probably selling high in Portland and going to Vancouver.
4) Driving conditions are probably way bad in comparison. Insurance is high (property crimes mostly focused on cars), gas is high, Washington has no income tax but a high sales tax (but Oregon has no sales tax so this is easy to alleviate with a bit of driving if so inclined). Car registration is astronomical.
5) In Washington? Insane. In Clark Co. (where Vancouver is), fairly conservative but that's relative.
6) Probably not as the homeless are pretty mobile and overwhelming in Portland. You are not going to see Portland levels, but it is going to be shocking to see from someone just coming in.

Let me know anything else you'd like to know and I'll try and help.

It is got a lot of good things. Easy access to both WA and OR coasts. Easy access to the mountains. It can be very green just minutes outside of Vancouver. Easy access to major airport. There is light rail. Carry permits are "shall issue".

Loswsmith:
Excellent info and answers. Thank you!

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
He will be moving with his GF.

What does the GF do? If it's anything medical like nursing or similar, she will have employers lined up to hire her. But other fields are in high demand too.

quote:

Originally posted by Oregon:
Have him look into the Camas/Washougal area. It's not far from Vancouver.

I agree with this as well. Nice, small town feel that's away enough no one comes there to steal (though they aren't immune to homegrown crime). About 15 minutes outside of town.

The GF is in Property Management.

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
The GF is in Property Management.

Might be a decent place for it. While a lot of people are leaving Washington, there is still an influx of people coming in, mostly from outside the country as I understand it. Property values went absolutely batshit over the last five years. It has corrected a fair bit in the last year, but it's not back down where it was. Houses are still expensive and the market cooled way down. Our house took maybe six months to sell and it was a nail biter the whole time. The market where we moved to is in a comparable state, and rather than buy a place, we decided to rent and see what happens over the coming year. We're dealing with a property management company here, and we very nearly decided to deal with one back in Washington to rent our place. I didn't want to risk damages and watching the market go in the toilet, so we hung on, but I suspect a lot of people won't make that same gamble.

quote:

Originally posted by lunchbox:
I live in the area and I’m bailing. Vancouver is turning into Portland, simple as that. Homeless everywhere and no one does anything about. It’s also in my opinion kind of an ugly city. This state is a mess and one to avoid. I wouldn’t move here for a free house, no way.

Mount Adams is long overdue for an eruption. Maybe it'll pop and sort out the Portland/Vancouver problem.

Problem with the states of CA, OR and WA are that the state government of controlled by extreme far left politicians. The center of the political storm is Oregon and Portland and their "legal" meth and heroin laws. Junkies around the country know where to land. It's a terrible mess.

Working in Vancouver is one thing, living there is another.
Not much different than Portland IMO.

The Washington guys at the shop don't live any closer than Ridgefield, one as far as Cougar. That's a hump of a drive.
A few live out in the hills in the Battle Ground area.

Thanks for all the input. I now know more about Vancouver than I ever thought possible.
My take thus far:
Its a wash between Vancouver and NOLA. Its just trading one set of problems for another set of problems. Just no hurricanes!

quote:

Originally posted by abnmacv:
Problem with the states of CA, OR and WA are that the state government of controlled by extreme far left politicians. The center of the political storm is Oregon and Portland and their "legal" meth and heroin laws. Junkies around the country know where to land. It's a terrible mess.

Up until 10-15 years ago WA & OR were perfectly fine being a more libertarian haven, live and let live. Unfortunately, that also means you get the extreme from both sides; an area which is stunningly beautiful can also be incredibly depressing. Layer in the meth epidemic and both state's urban areas have evolved into toxic brews of, addiction, unabated criminality, poor & ideologically driven governance, and a social discourse that has become strident eggd-on by public figures. The good thing is you can drive less than 30-minutes and you're in a different world, free from urban grime and away from all the urban gloom. It's no surprise why the population in the eastern portions of both states would like to secede and join Idaho.

Between Vancouver and New Orleans, I'd go with Vancouver. New Orleans, while a landmark city in this country with a unique culture, it also has a very long history of poor governance and civic service, with a large chunk of it's citizens who have zero interest in pulling themselves out of the mire and cultural decay that is perpetuated generationally. Not to mention the crazy heat and humidity that can rival most areas on earth.

Actually Vancouver is kinda like the eye of a storm and has been for a while now that I think about it.
It's pretty much the Wild West in the cities to the North and South.

I lived in St. Pete Fl for a bit, don't miss hurricane season at all or the humidity.
I've lived in a few different states coast to coast but have spent the majority of my life between Auburn Wa and Portland.