SperlingViews - Springfield, Oregon

How is it in Springfield ? Is it hard to get started in that town? How is the work ?[read more...]

I live 19 months now on the Springfield side of the Willamette River and Interstate 5; Eugene is on the western side. Eugene has the University of Oregon and is considerably more "chic"; but for me, I prefer Springfield. Does have more than its share of toothless ones, most perhaps aficionados of meth...hence "Springtucky". But unless you want to involve yourself in that strata of society Springfield has its benefits. First...it's affordable. The weather is great....rarely snows or gets cold....this Winter many flowers in fact overwintered. There are palm trees about....yeah, they are scragilly, but they're here. Yeah, lots of overcast November through March, and considerable rain....but it's preferable to piles of snow and slipping on ice. Gets hot, really hot, in the Summer.....don't assume some sort of San Francisco cool Summer. The economy is terrible....hard to see how it ever really recovers. But if you're retired it's ideal. There is a very nice shopping area on the north side of town with a good mall and a couple of miles of restaurants and big box. There's a great public transportation system. And, Eugene is just across, with lots to see and do there. The coast, and a great casino, only 50 miles away after you pass through a scenic coast range. The Cascades only 50 miles to the east. The area is not diverse.....which I like, some may not. Tends to be a pretty safe area, with homeless skateboard youth the major terror....not gangstas, etc. [read more...]

Although I technically live in Springfield, I feel qualified to talk about Eugene as well, since they are split cities or what have you. Springfield itself is good (over Eugene) in that the cost of renting/buying a house is slightly cheaper. Other than that, I much prefer Eugene. Springfield (esp. the downtown area) is a little run down, but it is what it is. Eugene has a lot of decent bar/pubs, restaurants and shopping to offer (though nowhere the variety that I grew to love when I lived in Seattle for 9 years) and it is much cleaner and more quiet here (I'm comparing to living in Seattle) and people are friendly and have much less of a "hipper-than-thou" attitude. I would say that Eugene is pretty liberal in it's politics and every "green" (environmentally but also as far as the geography and look of the place)....A lot of people hike and bike, so it is good for people that love doing things outdoors. Even the rain doesn't keep most people from doing what they love. I find that it rains less here (unless it is my imagination) than it did up in Seattle and that the summers are drier and warmer. Coming from Seattle, I sometimes feel that there isn't a lot to do here (I got spoiled up there) but I've grown used to how mellow it is here and it is nice, actually. Would I want to live here forever? Probably not..I'd probably move to Portland eventually, but for now I'm content! There are countless homeless on the streets of Springfield and Eugene but I don't find that they cause many problems and I have sympathy for most of them anyway, so don't let people's talk about the homeless stear you away from here. Every place I know has people down on their luck. One thing I really love about this area is that you can drive 70 miles west and you are at the Pacific Ocean and it is GORGEOUS (the Oregon coast line) or you can drive East and it doesn't take long (2 hours?) to reach high desert. There are so many beautiful natural forests for hiking, camping, etc. within easy driving distance...so much to explore!! Though it rains quite a bit, I just use a light therapy lamp to keep away those S.A.D blues and the summers are gorgeous here![read more...]