Current information on living in Dallas OR

[Chipol]

Steve,

That's really nice. I'll be in touch.

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by Chipol

Hello all,

Pardon for reviving this thread, if that is inappropriate. We have been doing research on a community for our retirement, and have pretty much settled on Oregon. I have researched key threads on many of the possible communities, and even though we would prefer a small town, it was looking like a suburb of Portland might be our best bet. But then I went back over the Salem information and from there started to look into Dallas. This thread answered many of my questions, but I don't think that Nestor2's original question about diversity intolerance ever got addressed. Is that an issue in Dallas?

Frankly, that is a question I never thought I would have to ask until I ran across comments in the Forest Grove threads. My wife is of South Indian descent and would qualify as a "person of color." What's the story?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

Although Dallas is about as "White" as it gets, there are people of Color here, and I have not heard of any issues.

We also have GLBT and again. One of them lives in my Apartment. The comments I hear are no different than any other city.

Dallas has a lot of churches, but there are just as many heathens as saved.

Polk County and Dallas within it are very Conservative, but we have our share of Progressives too.

Our proximity to the Grande Ronde Reservation populates the town with a few "First Americans" also.

Originally Posted by Chipol

Thanks, Steve. Good info. Dallas really seems to have a lot of what we are looking for. We plan to come up in July for another look around and will swing through Salem & Dallas. In our last visit we came more for the dahlia festival than to do any serious evaluation. But I'm between 6 and 18 months from retirement. So, time to get a little more focused. Our game plan is to pick out a few houses from teal estate sites and drive around the neighborhoods to see what life there might look like.

Originally Posted by Steve Pickering

Coffee is on me.

Originally Posted by Chipol

Steve,

That's really nice. I'll be in touch.

I am looking forward to it. Let me know if I can help.

[Steve Pickering]

I enjoyed meeting you and your lovely wife. I think the two of you will be a great addition to Dallas.

[Chipol]

This was our second trip to check out potential retirement locations in Oregon. This time we checked out Milwaukie, Beaverton, Hillsboro, Salem and Dallas. Other than accepting Steve’s incredibly gracious offer of coffee and chat, our approach was to find houses on Zillow that we would want to look at if we were buying, then to drive round the house’s neighborhood to get a feel for what it might be like to live there. We checked out the local groceries, restaurants, parks, etc. In the most general sense, we would like to be part of a community, and also have access a range of restaurants and shopping. We are looking for a modern house on an oversized lot.
Coming back from this trip, we pretty much ruled out the suburbs of Portland. They had the amenities, and Beaverton had the diversity that would appeal. I couldn’t really get a sense of community since they were so spread-out. But the real deal-breaker was that the price point for housing seemed a minimum of 25% more than the Salem area.
I liked Dallas. It had a feeling of community, and its own amenities, while still being near enough to Salem for whatever Dallas lacked. It seemed like we could get the kind of property we were looking for at a good price. The most concerning thing was the state of the downtown area. From “walking around” on Google, the downtown seemed to be a cute area that a resident could support and use and take pride in. The reality was a downtown that was sadly neglected. Steve related to us that the city government was focused on making Dallas a bedroom community for Salem, but also was resistant to supporting the downtown. I guess not everyone thinks like me, but I don’t understand how you do one without the other.
We liked downtown Salem. There is a nice mix of shopping in large and small stores. Parking was good. Nice restaurants. I had read that the homeless presence was a concern to some, but it didn’t appear to be a problem.
We had found quite a few interesting properties in West Salem, but we had not appreciated the hilliness of the area. In some of the properties I could see walking down the driveway to pick up the morning paper and needing a t-bar to get back home (only in my dotage, of course ). The elevation changes made privacy a bit of an issue also.
Finally, we checked out a few locations in South Salem. It had more of a suburban feel, but there were still some interesting properties that weren’t cookie-cutter. There was quick access to downtown and good variety of shopping.
In summary, Dallas and Salem are still on the list. Our next trip up is in February and we want to take a look at McMinnville and Silverton.

[Steve Pickering]

Good report on the downtown. I fully well expect to gain a seat on the city council in November and I will guarantee you, the report on downtown a year from now will be different.

[halonet]

I was wondering what it is like to live in Ceres Gleann?

[Steve Pickering]

Originally Posted by halonet

I was wondering what it is like to live in Ceres Gleann?

Ceres Gleann Homeowners Association - Ceres Gleann Homeowners Association • Dallas, Oregon • 55+ Active Adult Community It is across town and not on any commonly traveled road or walking route to Felony Flats if that is what you wanted to know.

[enchantrss20]

Hi - How is everyone enjoying the local bowling (wish they had senior leagues), the various aquatics center workout classes, and local driving range(s) these days? Great to have these and other close-by options for fun - Thanks!

[Steve Pickering]

I don't bowl much anymore (In fact not at all. Bad Back.) so I haven't been in the Alley here. I am going to have to pop in and check it out. Same with the driving ranges (Again Bad Back). But My wife uses the Aquatics Center for her PT and I know several Seniors who love it also.