Anybody Know anything about Richland, WA? The Good, Bad, & Ugly Please.

[masmdu]

Am thinking of moving and have found an opportunity in Richland WA but I don't know anything about the place...any info would be very helpful.

Thanks!

[jmowreader]

1. The ugly first

Richland, Washington, is in the Tri-Cities--Richland, Pasco and Kennewick. What's ugly is the area--imagine living in Crawford, but without George Bush to provide comic relief on occasion. It is broiling hot there in the summer, and it's broiling hot there in the winter.

If you like unlimited hydroplane racing, the Columbia Cup is contested in the Columbia River at the end of July every year.

Oh, and one of the biggest nuclear reservations in the United States is just down the road in Hanford.

The economy is based on fruit farming--specifically the famous Washington apple, but other fruits are grown there. I believe there's a wine industry.

Plus, it's in the middle of the central Washington freeper belt.

I like western Washington and eastern Washington, but can't stand central Washington.

[ClayZ]

2. I was born there! I should write a book!

Lived there till I was 18. My parents worked at Hanford. My mother has survived 4 unrelated kinds of cancer. My father is waiting to have reconstructive surgery for esophagus cancer and has been tube feeding for 5 months. My brother died of Leukemia 4 years ago.

It is hotter than hell in the summer and colder than the dickens in the winter.


I hate the place. There are some progressive people but finding them is like looking for needles in haystacks.

I wish all my nieces and nephews who still live there would leave.

The high school mascot for Richland High, is the ATOM BOMB.The logo is the mushroom cloud. Here is a picture.



Richland is growing in a strange way in the last couple years, as if someone knows something! More Nuclear Power plants?

Lots of new apt. bldgs, condos, houses, shopping centers, restaurants, churches!

My family (who still live there) remain among the 32 percent of the public that remains brainwashed bu$h supporters.

Here is a link the the local newspaper. http://www.tri-cityherald.com/

I would not move back for all the money in the world.

I have worked for the last 25 years as an artist in Seattle.

There are people there I LOVE! They unfortunately are to dumb to leave!

Peace!

[masmdu]

3. Thanks... I'll "X" Richland off my list....

.

[Squatch]

5. It's not *that* bad. There's a ton to do around there.

Personally, I'd rather find something in Spokane, Portland, or Seattle.

[Tikki]

8. Please X Richland off your list....

It's amazing to see all the former Richlandlanders on DU...there are at least a dozen or more....

Cancer..YES and a lot of it... and also, debilatating conditions like thyroid disease and postrate conditions. And I would say...growing up there...that 'a stark isolation' was part of the Hanford General Plan.

Now that all my family there has passed on or moved elsewhere...no reason to go there, ever....


Tikki and Mr. Tikki
spelling error

[Squatch]

4. My ex-fiancee was from Richland and I spent quite a bit of time there.

Over the past 7 years, the town has literally sprawled into the sage prairie. I remember heading up to the Badger Mountain winery, which was in the middle of nowhere. Now, homes line the vineyard and it's just not quite the same anymore.

On the plus side, your close to the Walla Walla and Yakima wineries, which are wonderful.

The Blue Mountains are about 1 hour away, there's great football at WSU about 2 hours away, skiing at Crystal and White Pass about 2 or 3 hours away, Seattle about 5 hours, Portland about 4.

[ClayZ]

9. downwinders

http://www.downwinders.com/

Yes, one can find beauty there, and fun! I lived on the Columbia River. My father sang in the light opera there when he still had a voice.

Boating, water skiing and snow skiing in the winter. The city has the highest per capita number of PHDs in the country. My brother owned two pharmacies there before he died of leukemia.

One man I know has a doctorate in Physics and one in Philosophy. We always introduced him as a Paradox.

I had some good teachers. But still looking back it was like living in the Twilight Zone.

I feel like I came from the belly of the beast!

My mother helped build the A-bomb. One of my best friends is a survivor from hiroshima.

I remember a cheer from Richland High School basketball games...

Bomb 'em, Bomb 'em,
Beat 'em, Beat 'em.
Bomb 'em, Bomb 'em,
Beat 'em, Beat 'em.

A musician friend of our said that, having a mushroom cloud on your letterman's jacket is like a German having an OVEN on their jacket.

ARGH!

[Squatch]

10. That's where she went to HS.

Class of 92

[miss_kitty]

6. Hanford nuclear site

radioactivity. Leaks. Fast flux. Weapons grade plutonium. Downwinders. That's the Good...

[flamingyouth]

7. My greatuncle and his family live there.

There's an interesting book about the region called Atomic Farmgirl, about the people living downwind of Hanford.

Lots of nice people live there but I don't know that I'd be happy there. Good luck on your move.