any thoughts on living in eugene, oregon?

[Climb01742]

i grew up (to the extent that i_have_grown up) in portland, oregon. i've always wanted to get back to the west coast. there are some places i love in CA but cost-of-living and the state's fiscal future are a bit worrisome.

oregon still calls me to come "home".

i've been researching the eugene area. it's still at the dream/plan stages, but for folks who've lived in eugene, what are/were your thoughts? pro and cons. much appreciated. and i suppose this year you can't help but say, go ducks.

[William]

I preferred the Corvallis area myself. Any type of riding you wanted right outside your door. Eugene is very nice but my time there was always passing through. Besides....Beavers ROCK!!! :D

Eric Estlund is living and building fine bikes out of Eugene, I'm sure he can fill you in there J-Pal.




William

[Ozz]

.... Besides....Beavers ROCK!!! :D ...
How did your Beavers do last weekend against the Huskies? ;)

[gasman]

Climb
I went to college in Eugene and have lived here for the last 22 yrs.
I am going to pm you my phone number, i think we could cover more ground and specifics that way.

[texbike]

Hey Climb,

I haven't seen him post here in quite a while, but Vaxn8r is/was from Eugene.

It may be worth shooting him an email via the forum to see if he is still around and can offer you some info...

Texbike

[11.4]

I've spent a lot of time there recently. Great riding. Temperate weather (sunnier and warmer than farther north or south). Loads of good bike shops. Bike companies in town (Comotion, etc.). Generally level around town, rolling on the fringes, but some nice climbing to the southeast. You're right on the Willamette River, which has a superb paved trail around it, good for evening training or just getting around. You can ride a bike everywhere and a lot of people do.

Practically no jobs; the town is suffering economically. University town with a fair amount of that '70s hippie style around. Not all that much quality cultural events, and while Portland has more they still aren't great either. You do get the big Shakespeare festival and the Bach festival, but other than those two, it's mostly pretty weak for cultural events. Real estate is very inexpensive and cost of living is very low, so you can manage on much less than most other places. Good place to raise kids. Good place to retire. Food is pretty good. You're in wine country, a fair number of antique stores and malls around, lots of outdoor stuff (definitely top MTB and cyclocross country), and you're only about 45 miles from the Pacific.

In short, you're in a small university town a hundred miles from the nearest city. Definitely check it out. I have often considered it seriously. If there was ever a job to compare with the big city, I'd be there in a flash.

[William]

How did your Beavers do last weekend against the Huskies? ;)

They forgot to bring the ROCKS!!! :crap:


The Gasman!!!! :cool:

William ;)

[gasman]

Good rock climbing in town.
Vaxn8r is my neighbor and we ride together when we can.
11.4 sums it up with some decent generalizations but it really depends what you are looking for.

[1centaur]

http://www.weather.com/outlook/health/fitness/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USOR0118

[cnighbor1]

lots of riding there between rain clouds
great mountains to the east
funny town
downtown is neat but it has been trumped by shopping malls
great sking
enjoy charles

[Smiley]

Tandem capitol of the world Climb

[Climb01742]

Tandem capitol of the world Climb

no place is perfect, smile-man. ;)

[11.4]

Fewer recumbents, more tandems. That at least puts it up on Seattle.

[TMB]

I've spent a lot of time there recently. Great riding. Temperate weather (sunnier and warmer than farther north or south). Loads of good bike shops. Bike companies in town (Comotion, etc.). Generally level around town, rolling on the fringes, but some nice climbing to the southeast. You're right on the Willamette River, which has a superb paved trail around it, good for evening training or just getting around. You can ride a bike everywhere and a lot of people do.

Practically no jobs; the town is suffering economically. University town with a fair amount of that '70s hippie style around. Not all that much quality cultural events, and while Portland has more they still aren't great either. You do get the big Shakespeare festival and the Bach festival, but other than those two, it's mostly pretty weak for cultural events. Real estate is very inexpensive and cost of living is very low, so you can manage on much less than most other places. Good place to raise kids. Good place to retire. Food is pretty good. You're in wine country, a fair number of antique stores and malls around, lots of outdoor stuff (definitely top MTB and cyclocross country), and you're only about 45 miles from the Pacific.

In short, you're in a small university town a hundred miles from the nearest city. Definitely check it out. I have often considered it seriously. If there was ever a job to compare with the big city, I'd be there in a flash.


This really surprises me. Most University towns in my experience are quite expensive.

Eugene drives me crazy. An older town built into the crotch of the rivers like it is, I find it to be one of the most confusing difficult towns I 've ever been in to get around. Even with the GPS unit.

Other than that I like it, sorta.

I do like Corvallis more though.

[PETER REID]

I live in Chapel Hill, NC now and would move to Eugene if I could find work there...

[EricEstlund]

The economic climate may be a real deciding factor. Pair that with relatively high housing costs with the university and it can be interesting.

Eugene has a lot of small town-ness, which can be go either way based on your own needs and preferences.

Great year round weather, riding, and access. Shoot me a note/ call if you have any specifics I can help with!

[1happygirl]

Loved it when I went on vacation with friends to look at a custom bike. Flew into Portland. This is the only reason I wouldn't move there in a heartbeat (other than no job):

Environmental issues
The combination of being in the downwind end of the Willamette Valley, the undisputed "grass-seed capital of the world"[13] and the confining shape of the hills has led to Eugene being “the area of the highest grass pollen counts in the USA (> 1,500 pollen grains/m 3 of air).”[14] These high pollen counts have led to difficulties for some of the track athletes who compete in Eugene. In the Olympic trials in 1972, “Jim Ryun won the 1,500 after being flown in by helicopter because he was allergic to Eugene's grass seed pollen.”[15] Further, six-time Olympian Maria Mutola abandoned Eugene as a training area “in part to avoid allergies”.[16]
[edit]

From Wikipedia.

[pjmsj21]

As a resident of Eugene who moved from Seattle in 1996 and also spends alot of time in Portland, I agree with many of the comments, except the one about the Shakespeare festival which is located in Ashland to the south.

The pro's include a university town and as a result I think it brings in alot more cultural activities than would nomrally occur in a town of 200K people...ie Yoyo Ma etc.

I think one of Eugene's biggest challanges is jobs and their pay scale. While this is a big topic nationally, it has always been an issue in Eugene especially when looking at compensation and real estate prices. The other negative in my mind is the lack of progress made by city leaders/government in revitalizing the downtown area. Eugene needs stronger, get something accomplished and dont worry about bruising people's feelings.

On the plus side, it is a great place to raise kids, which is one of the reasons we moved. The pulblic school system is generally well supported, and very supported in some areas. My kids did fine in the system and went on to go to Brown. I cant over emphasize it is a great place for kids growing up.

Politically it is like the rest of the country but with a larger liberal base, but plenty of tea partiers as well. The community is also very environmentally oriented, like most locations in the Northwest.

As far as cycling goes, I think we have the bes cycling of any area, but similar to Corvallis to the north. Plenty of flats, to the north and climbing in the other directions. I got back into cycling here because it is so good.

PM me if you have any other specific questions but I travel to many communities in the Northwest and have a pretty good perspective.

One final thing is that we have the number one rated football team in the country......! and I have now cursed them for sure.


Pat Mc

[coylifut]

it rains about 14 more inches per year in Eugene than it does in the Portland area. It rains about 5 more inches per year in Boston than it does Portland. Most of that additional rain occuring in the summer. It almost never rains between July 5th and September 15th in the Willamette Valley.

[Kirk007]

I like it, my wife doesn't and wants to return to Seattle. Cindy's dissatisfaction has more to do with family and friends in Seattle, although she is not the only person that I have heard remark that it isn't the easiest town to make good friends with - lots of transient folks with the University.

I like it a lot but frankly would not pick it as my number one place to spend the rest of my life (although I've yet to find the one place that satisfies that measure). I think the weather is better than Seattle (former resident for 16 years there) and the rain factor is overblown. It is a great riding town, easy to navigate, pretty good restaurants except for chinese, which s*cks here (go figure for a University town), superior access to locally grown organic fruits, vegetables, eggs, pork, beef, lamb, wine. The Willamette and McKenzie rivers are wonderful resources that I wish I took better advantage of. Eugene is exceptionally well placed between the Cascades, the coast etc. Grass pollen allergies are significant.

I'll still be here regularly if we do move though as my main office is here. Gotta nice house for sale...

[Seramount]

I lived there in the late-70s to mid-80s.

coming from far west Texas, the place was a paradise. lots of outdoors stuff (I became an OCD runner), generally liberal enviro-aware politics, interesting takes on architecture (no adobe houses, go figure) and food (lots of veggie, organic fare).

the economy sucked hard then as now. unemployment in Eugene was ridiculous. you had to be very creative to find income...I did a series of odd jobs, fire watch for a logging company, helped a friend flip old houses, etc etc..but never came close to finding employment using my degree.

growing up in a perma-sunshine desert area made living there feel claustrophobic at times...mostly due to the many gray, dark, rainy days. but I learned to embrace the weather and overall, I have pretty fond memories of the place.

[PDX-Velo]

I grew up near Corvallis and spent a lot of time in Eugene due to the fac that was the only place to shop. It has a great small town feel but I think that the job market still hurting. Some of the companies/businesses that were there have gone else where since the downturn. I live in Portland now and enjoy it much better and has a huge cycling network and there are still plenty of jobs.

Just my two cents... GO BEAVS!!!

[KevinK]

I came to Eugene in '75 for school, and have been here ever since. There is very little not to like about the town and this area. city government can be frustrating at times and entertaining at others. As other said, its a great place for outdoor recreation, and is conducive to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

If I had one "wish" it would be that the there be a little more racial and cultrual diversity in the area. My wife and I are Asian, and sometimes we feel very conspicuous. I've only experience a few instances of overt racism, but have experienced quite a bit of unintentional discrimination. That being said, we still love it here. Go Ducks!

Kevin

[jmeloy]

I live in Chapel Hill, NC now and would move to Eugene if I could find work there...
as I've thought about both. Downside of Chapel Hill (other than that university)?