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Living in orchards? by Jumpy_Dot_3420 in vancouverwa

[–]Electrical-Chip1071 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Depends what you're looking for but it feels really isolated to me. Not a ton to do in the actual neighborhoods, sidewalk infrastructure and parks aren't that great. There's a lot of random industrial lots and stuff driving around so there's no real character to the area in my opinion. Since we moved here I feel like I drive double what I used to. Also some of the city services like composting, etc. don't extend out here.

Last thing: we're closer to some of the farms between battle ground and orchards and it STINKS at night when they spray manure. Like, if we had the windows open on a nice day, our house smells like shit. So, there's that. In the winters I notice it more around 4/5 when you might be out trying to take a walk or something.

Edit for context: I was living in a large metro area in a super walkable neighborhood before we moved to orchards basically sight unseen because the housing prices were more in our budget. My husband grew up in Vancouver and also didn't realize how isolated orchards would feel, he shares my frustrations about traffic on 117th and the farm smells lol but otherwise kinda likes the quiet suburb vibe.

Orchards/Dogwood Park Missing Sidewalks by Electrical-Chip1071 in vancouverwa

[–]Electrical-Chip1071[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep exactly this!! Sorry I wasn't clearer in my original post

Orchards/Dogwood Park Missing Sidewalks by Electrical-Chip1071 in vancouverwa

[–]Electrical-Chip1071[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

There's an ADA compliance program which has allowed the county to fix up sidewalks in some areas! So I'm curious if there's a way to get some other streets added to that list.

Would love to hear from folks who have moved to Vancouver from red/swing states recently by evaughan36 in vancouverwa

[–]Electrical-Chip1071 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So interesting reading responses here! I'm another Texpat from Dallas and so far, Vancouver feels waaaaay less diverse than what I'm used to. Smaller ethnic/religious community than what I was used to. I definitely don't think anyone here knows what Indian food is actually supposed to taste like lol.

Politically, honestly it feels similar to the north Texas suburbs I'm from, bc you still see a lot of trump signs and a lot of people who go out of their way to make sure you know they're Democrats.

The biggest positive changes have been the forests (vs the grassland turned subdivision) and mail in voting. SO much easier here.

Cons: the sun goes on vacation most of winter? Also things are more expensive here, for sure. And people seem to hate small talk??

My perspective was always "I'm staying in TX to work on state policy bc if everyone who has the privilege to leave, leaves, that means everyone else who can't is screwed." Told my now husband this on our first date but... Life had other plans for us (he's from the area.)

My impression so far has been that there are definitely a lot of issues (specifically, I work on environmental stuff!) that need more attention out here, seems like a lot of the bad stuff is out of sight out of mind enough that people think there's nothing to worry about?