Hi muss,
Incredible as it seems, I am living in North Lynnwood, WA (20 blocks
from the Everett city line) and --I lived in Las Vegas for 6 years.
I'm going to tell you all about Las Vegas, and a little about Everett,
then wait for you to ask more questions.
I do have some interesting tidbits for you.
Las Vegas is hot, I mean H-O-T only 3 months a year. During those 3
months, if your AC goes out, it's considered an emergency. It's hot
leading up to those three months, and following those 3 months. It
begins around June and ends sometime in September. Consider that when
I flew to LV on Oct 6th to rent a house for December, it was 106
degrees. It's the only city I have ever lived where on the 6 o'clock
news, they give a "CARmometer" reading, the temperature inside a
parked car. It's not uncommon for it to reach 165-170 degrees. If you
don't like heat, don't go. Winter can be cold as well. In spring, if
you've never had allergies, you might get them because you have no
antibodies to all the pollens there.
People do U-turns there everywhere. If there's no sign posted that
says you CAN'T do a U-turn, watch out, because people will do U-turns
right in front of you anywhere. The school zones are 15mph. The
arterials are 45-50mph. The schools are on arterials. You're driving
along and all of a sudden you've got to slow down to 15mph for 3
blocks. About half of the schools there are year-round schools.
Speeding in a school zone is a serious traffic offense there.
In fact, since I brought it up, ANY traffic offense there is B-A-D
since there is no way to mitigate the ticket without actually taking
it to trial. There is no talking to a magistrate and getting a ticket
reduced because you were having a bad day, didn't see the sign, or are
very sorry. You go in to court (if you don't send them the money, you
must appear in court), they LOCK you in. You watch a film about court
proceedings and expected behavior. They do ROLL CALL. At roll call, if
you are not there an arrest warrant is immediately issued. After roll
call they begin again, when your name is called you may say only one
of three things. GUILTY, NOT GUILTY, NOLO. If you plead Guilty or
Nolo, you must pay the fine or make payment arrangements at that
moment. If you plead Not Guilty, you must post bail (the fine amount).
If you don't have an address they will hold you. In the same vein, if
you let your insurance lapse, the insurance company notifies the state
by 5pm that day. If you let your tabs expire, they invalidate your
license plate and will pull you over and remove it.
Stay out of trouble in Las Vegas. Follow the traffic laws. They may be
nice to tourists but the system is brutal on locals. Don't pay any
utilities late, you can't carry any balance from one month to the
next, they will shut you off, period. It's a felony to bounce a check
there, and they prosecute.
Starting a business there is worse. Before you get licensed the city
actually comes and inspects your business to see if it's what you say
it is. They ask every uncomfortable question a business owner doesn't
want to answer to a city, county and state. It's impossible to get one
single thought over on them, they have thought of everything.
On the upside, grocery stores and bars are open 24 hours a day. In
fact, lots of businesses are open in the middle of the night. Being a
24 hour tourist town, there's tens of thousands of night workers.
There's enough to warrant 24 hour support in many types of businesses.
It's flat, surrounded by mountains on all four sides, breathtaking.
Houses are cheap, electricity is cheap, gas is cheap. The only things
that cost more in Las Vegas are fresh produce, fresh fish, and water.
Water is very expensive. They also have the "water police" about 6
months a year that drive around looking folks that water too much, and
they will ticket you. There are certain hours you can water your
[small] lawn and yard, which are something like every other day for
3-4 minutes before 7am, and 3-4 minutes after 7pm. It's even less in
the summer.
Las Vegas Valley Water District
http://www.lvvwd.com/html/news_watering_spring.html
Spring watering limited to 3 assigned days. In March and April,
sprinkler irrigation is limited to three assigned days per week.
Need I mention that if you or a family member have a gambling problem,
you will lose everything you own sooner than later. I've seen it
several times.
You have to like neutral colors, the landscape is brown tones, and all
the houses are shades of off-white, beige and light pink. No bright
colors. There are TONS of homeowners associations, in fact, Las Vegas
is an entire city of planned communities, a huge sprawl of them. When
you look at the comparisons, note the crime stats. It takes a long
time to get over the nightly news. Nearly a murder per day. The crime
stats you saw above are misleading because they only count the city
limits of Las Vegas, when there are 4 cities in the Las Vegas Valley
which is about 30 miles wide and 45 miles long.
Another note about Las Vegas. 95% of the population moved there from
somewhere else. Because of this, grocery stores are a very interesting
place. The sheer number of different cultures they provide for is
astounding. I have never seen so many choices in grocery stores.
There's an average of about 4" of rain a year, and when it rains there
is flooding. I saw it snow twice in six years, for about 15 minutes
each time. It hovers at around 5% himidity on average, so you MUST
drink LOTS of water, all the time. Carry water in your car. In Las
Vegas, when you turn on the cold water, you have to wait for it to get
cold.
Las Vegas has one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation.
=================================================================
Everett Washington is 20 miles north of Seattle. I'm typing from zip
code 98037, within 20 blocks of the Everett City Limits. Go here and
enter - Everett, WA -
Google Maps
http://www.maps.google.com/
See all that water in Everett? Everett is GREEN. Everett and nearby
Seattle have culture, activities that are interesting to families.
People are friendlier, and the coffee ROCKS! We have hills here, the
houses are all different colors, and people have blooming flowerbeds
all year long. In Everett, when you turn on the cold water, it's
ready, but the hot water has to travel all the way from the tank. Be
prepared for a wait. The schools are all 9 month schools here. Crime
is MUCH lower here. North King and South Snohomish Counties have some
of the highest rated school districts in the nation. We have
Microsoft, Boeing, Trident, and now Google has opened an office here
too!
Seems to me jobs are plentiful here too. Housing is very expensive
compared to the national average. It doesn't rain as much as people
think, but it is overcast about 300 days a year. If you are affected
by the lack of brightness because of being so far north, then the
overcast days will not help at all.
Here's some links for you:
Sperling's Best Places
http://www.bestplaces.net/city/Default.aspx
Click on the navigation links: General, People, Economy, Housing,
Health, Crime, Climate, Education, Transportation, Cost of Living,
Religion, Voting
These next links are very long, but it'll be easy for you to look at
the results without having to enter all the information.
Annual crime rates per 100,000 people
http://www.homefair.com/homefair/servlet/ActionServlet?pid=134&cid=homefair&fromCountry=USA&toCountry=USA&fromState=WA&toState=NV&previousPage=133&fromCityPreSelect=null&fromCity=5322640&toCity=3240000
Crime Category Everett - Las Vegas
Robberies 175 739
Rapes 80 96
Homicides 2 26
Aggravated Assaults 311 851
Motor Vehicle Thefts 1643 2752
Crime Lab Index 147 468
NOTE: These numbers are for Las Vegas only, there are 4 cities in the valley.
Salary Calculator
http://www.homefair.com/homefair/servlet/ActionServlet?pid=200&tool=salarycalculator&previousPage=116&cid=homefair&fromState=WA&toState=NV&salary=100000&fromCity=5322640&toCity=3240000&ownrent=own
School Report - Everett, WA
http://www.homefair.com/homefair/servlet/ActionServlet?pid=36&previousPage=35&cid=homefair&state=WA&county=31&city=31&submit=++Go++
School Report - Las Vegas, NV
http://www.homefair.com/homefair/servlet/ActionServlet?pid=36&previousPage=35&cid=homefair&state=NV&county=3&city=3&submit=++Go++
Read all this then if you like --ask me for more information via the
clarification feature. I'm very willing to assist further.
~~Cynthia |
