Roseburg Oregon, for retirement? (Portland, Eugene: living, buses, airport)

[OldOzarkLady]

Originally Posted by texasdiver

Grants Pass is more liberal than Roseburg? Hmmm.....here are the 2020 election results for both areas, judge for yourself how liberal these two areas are:

Douglas County (Roseburg is the county seat): Trump 67.6% Biden 29.9%
Josephine County (Grants Pass is the county seat): Trump 61.8% Biden 35.9%

Both are pretty red parts of Oregon but Douglas County is about 5% more red than Josephine County judging from the last election. Douglas is BY FAR the most conservative county in Western Oregon. You have to go out to the southeast Oregon desert to places like Lake County or Harney County to find places that are measurably redder than Douglas County.

That is strange. It seems both areas the voting is very conservative, much like here. I don't think it is as culturally conservative in Oregon. Here you have to be a confirmed church going Christian just to meet folks. I bet they are more libertarian conservative. I would be interested in seeing how many support pro-choice, and social equality issues?

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by OldOzarkLady

I bet they are more libertarian conservative. I would be interested in seeing how many support pro-choice, and social equality issues?

Just choked on my tea.

You seem to want to believe it's somehow different from the south, and it probably is in that it's not as churched. But no, I wouldn't count on it being the kind of old-school, live-and-let-live libertarian conservative.

But I'm sure you could make friends without joining a church in Roseburg. There's usually a small group of not-so-conservative people in any town of Roseburg's size, and because it will be small, they may be more welcoming and easier to connect with.

[7th generation]

Originally Posted by OldOzarkLady

That is strange. It seems both areas the voting is very conservative, much like here. I don't think it is as culturally conservative in Oregon. Here you have to be a confirmed church going Christian just to meet folks. I bet they are more libertarian conservative. I would be interested in seeing how many support pro-choice, and social equality issues?

You have inquired about an area and members have been gracious in answering.
So why do you insist arguing about political crap here?

[E-Twist]

I haven't checked recently, but Oregon used to lead the nation in being unchurched. I have one friend that goes to church.

I would suggest you take a driving trip around the Willamette valley and maybe even the coast towns before just picking a place to relocate.

I suppose you have heard that Oregonians aren't welcoming to people relocating from other states?

[pnwguy2]

Oregon residents are not not unwelcoming from other States. They are not welcoming to Californians trying create a new State of California. This is a big difference.

[NW4me]

Ozark Lady,


I don't live in Oregon yet, but I've learned a bit about it from visits and online.
Roseburg is in a historical lumbering area... and dominance by extractive industries
often seems to go together with conservative politics.

The Willamette Valley is more agricultural... that doesn't make it deep-blue,
but it's less conservative than southern or eastern Oregon.

Maybe consider something like this:
move to a small city in the orbit of Salem, like Dallas, Monmouth/Independence or Silverton.
While you're there, decide if it would be possible to live there w/o driving.
If not, then plan on living in Salem itself when the time arrives that you stop driving.

[Metlakatla]

Originally Posted by NW4me

Ozark Lady,


I don't live in Oregon yet, but I've learned a bit about it from visits and online.
Roseburg is in a historical lumbering area... and dominance by extractive industries
often seems to go together with conservative politics.

The Willamette Valley is more agricultural... that doesn't make it deep-blue,
but it's less conservative than southern or eastern Oregon.

Maybe consider something like this:
move to a small city in the orbit of Salem, like Dallas, Monmouth/Independence or Silverton.
While you're there, decide if it would be possible to live there w/o driving.
If not, then plan on living in Salem itself when the time arrives that you stop driving.

LOL. No one who actually knows Oregon would ever suggest Dallas as a relocation option for someone of the liberal persuasion who hopes to connect with others with similar views or wants to avoid a churchy vibe. Probably not Monmouth either, even though I like it fine myself. Ag families/communities here tend to be beet red, btw.

If you want liberal Oregon, you have to go to the Portland metro or to Ashland; perhaps Bend. It really is that simple. If you want California weather, you have to go to -- guess where.

[GeorgiaTransplant]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

LOL. No one who actually knows Oregon would ever suggest Dallas as a relocation option for someone of the liberal persuasion who hopes to connect with others with similar views or wants to avoid a churchy vibe. Probably not Monmouth either, even though I like it fine myself. Ag families/communities here tend to be beet red, btw.

If you want liberal Oregon, you have to go to the Portland metro or to Ashland; perhaps Bend. It really is that simple. If you want California weather, you have to go to -- guess where.

Eugene, possibly. The outskirts are farm-y and red, but the city itself is still as granola as it comes. I had to take a short trip to the valley recently and immediately remembered why I left.

[texasdiver]

Originally Posted by Metlakatla

LOL. No one who actually knows Oregon would ever suggest Dallas as a relocation option for someone of the liberal persuasion who hopes to connect with others with similar views or wants to avoid a churchy vibe. Probably not Monmouth either, even though I like it fine myself. Ag families/communities here tend to be beet red, btw.

If you want liberal Oregon, you have to go to the Portland metro or to Ashland; perhaps Bend. It really is that simple. If you want California weather, you have to go to -- guess where.

I would disagree. There are plenty of smaller communities around Oregon that are not right-wing. They may not be uber-liberal like Eugene or central SE Portland. But are not conservative either. Just off the top of my head:

Hood River
Silverton
McMinnville
Astoria
Newport (and most of the town on the north coast frankly)
Ashland
Corvallis
Monmouth
Newberg (despite the recent fiasco with their school board)
Oregon City
Canby
Wilsonville
Woodburn
Salem

I believe if you drilled down you would find that all of those communities voted for Biden over Trump.

What you won't find is any sort of liberal blue community in small farm towns like Dallas or Yamhill that are not much more than wide spots in the road.

If it were me and I was looking for a smaller middle-of-the-road all-American sort of town with a reasonably vibrant local community in which to settle in for retirement, I'd look at Silverton or McMinnville rather than Roseburg. But that's just me.

[Nell Plotts]

Brookings has a unique weather condition: The Chetco effect, also known as the Brookings effect, is a katabatic wind that affects the southern coast of Oregon. Adiabatic heating increases the temperature and reduces relative humidity as winds, driven by high pressure on the Great Basin, descend across the west slopes of the Cascade Range and the Oregon Coast Range. It can occur at any time of the year producing temperatures near the Chetco River mouth which are up to 40 °F (22 °C) higher than without the air movement.

Brookings is a neat town except for one risk: tsunamis. Their bay experienced a tsunami from the earthquake in Japan in 2011. https://www.portofbrookingsharbor.com/tsunami.html

Before you move to the Oregon coast, particularly Brookings research the Cascadia Fault.