The homelessness is definitely visible. I live not too far from the Alabama Camp the city designated. They're building little houses now. Not sure it will help much but they seem to be trying new things. That's a good sign to me. The homeless I've run across when I'm out in the yard gardening are very respectful and comment on the plants. We seem to have a lower proportion of the yelling and screaming type I'm guaranteed to run into in downtown Portland. Its def an issue the whole region is working on and it's a difficult one at that.

I remember reading a piece from the New York Times about how dangerous the Highlands was in the early 2000s due to drugs. Many of my coworkers lived there then and got caught up in it. It is truly astounding how many in the community have been affected my methamphetamines but a lot of them have turned it around. Longview does seem to have hit rock bottom at some point and I truly belive its on the come up. I just hope it doesn't get so expensive it pushes folks out. I truly like my coworkers and neighbors and would like for them to be able to stay.

Thanks for your perspective.

If you're considering moving here because you want an über progressive town, you'll have a difficult time. You probably want to stick to the big cities for that. That said, I live here with my husband (we're gay) and we haven't had any trouble. People mostly keep to themselves but I view that as a sort of northwestern trait in general. People saying this is some sort of MAGA paradise seem to forger Lewis County exists. Even in my neighborhood where there were a lot of Trump voters, people weren't obnoxious about it and left my Biden sign be.

People love to classify the town as rural but to me it's just too big to be considered rural. There's a Target and a Panera in Kelso. I don't know of many hick towns that have both of those in all my time in the Midwest and South. Just understand that a lot of people on reddit are going to be a lot more left leaning (I am as well) and they might blow things out of proportion. Longview/Kelso is gritty but it's relatively inexpensive to live in if you want to be on the west side of the state. I'd make sure the wage of the job you're getting is something you're able to live on. Rent is cheaper than the bigger cities but it's still high. Gas is more expensive here by quite a lot. Electric will probably be cheaper than you paid in the Midwest. I find water to be a bit high but it's sometimes included in rent. There are homeless and drugs, but that was also an issue when we lived in small town Oregon and it's something you'll have to accept to live here. Maybe we'll solve it someday but it won't be tomorrow.

Longview is centrally located. You can be in the forests immediately, the park is wonderful, the ocean is very close and there's a river beach at Willow Grove. I love Beaver Creek Falls over the river in Clatskanie. In four hours you can be in central Washington. 6-8 gets you to the east side of WA and OR where the landscape is so radically different and still breathtaking. A little farther and you're in Idaho or Northern NV. And ofc Seattle and Portland are close and you can even use Amtrak to get up and down the west coast provided time doesn't mean much to you.

I hope if you end up joining us you like it as much as I do. Good luck!

You'll be fine. I grew up in Missouri and Longview reminds me a lot of the place (culturally). When we moved here I liked to call it Kentucky by the Sea. It's also fairly industrialized which if you're from the Rust Belt you'll be used to. Just don't make your belongings too attractive to property thievery. I consider it one of our bigger problems. I have been lucky and it hasn't been much of an issue but there's always someone on NextDoor surprised that the thing they left in their yard was stolen.

I've lived in Longview for a few years now. We even live in what people would call one of the worst areas. I will say, I've never had anyone steal anything from my porch. They're all too busy going to the nice side to steal! As for other commenters speaking about the homeless, that's all over the PNW. There's no way to avoid it if you want to live here. As for the mill smell, I won't say you get used to it but I can deal since my mortgage is cheap for the area.

As far as things to do, that may be true that there isn't much, but it isn't all too different from other small cities across the country. So I am left to wonder what sort of stimulation people are expecting from their towns. There are social organizations to join, churches, board game shops where people actually go to play with each other. My neighborhood has a community center and a garden. There's plenty to do for a small area. It isn't Portland but maybe OP is from a place like I am. We lived surrounded by cow pasture so Longview is fairly activity heavy for me.

Just another opinion. Not trying to criticize anyone.

[This is no longer true. ](http://Oregonians, Get Ready To Pay Sales Tax In Washington https://www.opb.org/pf/news/article/oregon-washington-sales-tax-new-law/)

Oregonians no longer get to forgo paying sales tax in Washington. They must save their receipts and claim them all at once. I could see businesses doing this but it seems unlikely that the average Oregonian is doing it.

It is really annoying that Oregon is trying to export their system of deposit up here. When I lived there a few years back, the bottle drop locations were constantly full and if you didn't throw yours all the way to the back, people could open the side door (this is a shipping container where the bags were thrown) and they'd either physically steal the bag of cans or steal it by way of peeling your redemption code off and replacing yours with theirs and having the redemption money put in their account. Now, I live just across the river and have homeless digging through the recycle to take bottles and cans and redeem them in Oregon. They also did this in Oregon. It seems to me like a way to keep them earning cash, though it's definitely an unintended consequence.

I loved living in Oregon but it was much cheaper (at the time) to cross the river and live in Washington. I still love to visit Oregon and have many friends there, but the state has a way of making the most onerous policies. I always like to say, when living there: why do it the right way when you can do it the Oregon way? Washington, in my opinion, is set up more like other states. Oregon likes to reinvent the wheel.

Oregon passed legislation very similar to this in 2019. It probably hasn't been long enough to determine whether or not it has been worth it, but I don't really see the downsides. Yes, it could make traffic worse, parking worse, etc... but the idea is that you eventually reach a density where that is less important as transit becomes more feasible. They more or less needed to enact this since they have very strict land use laws and the urban growth boundary system (not a bad thing, but if you can't build out, you must build up).

As for applying it to the whole state, I think that's good as well. There are plenty of smaller communities that are in dire need of housing. Being able to build duplexes, triplexes and quadplexes is a good thing since it is impractical to buy several houses and try to put up a larger apartment complex. There is reason to believe there's less pushback from neighbors when we pursue infill projects like this.

Banning single family exclusive zoning doesn't mean single family homes don't get built, it just means landowners are free to pursue building more dense units per plot. It won't be without its problems, but housing costs are not sustainable now and it won't get better until we can build more. On balance I think it will be a positive for the state.

Oregon SFH Ban

Just saw that they're letting him retire on Jan 31. So I guess he won't be there anymore but it's a bit of a let down. Probably indicative of others on the force.

And the rural dwellers of Mississippi, Tennessee, Missouri, Louisiana, Kentucky, Kansas, etc... all outvote urban interests in their states.

Congrats. You've noticed the dividing line in US politics is now Urban vs. Rural with suburbs being the kingmakers. This is not how it always was and likely is not how it will always be. If people are unhappy with the current division, all they need to do is wait for a political realignment. We are probably due for one anyway, and are likely seeing one happen in real time.