The impossible dream
 

I wonder if there is a nice crime free area, or close to crime free as possible, to retire. Nice riding of course and close to medical services. As well as something's to do, besides riding.

Maybe I should just stop watching the news, like a lot of people have told me ( they have). It’s like living life with you head in the sand.

I start looking at places and they all seem to have the same crimes everywhere I look. Is it an impossible dream and do you just except it?

I moved down to south Texas from Chicago and I really think it’s worse here than there. We wanted to get away from the cold harsh winters. Sometimes I wish we were in a more moderate climate, but like I mentioned, every time I start checking places out they all end up the same.

Anybody have any ideas?

East side of vancouver island? (Qualicum Beach or Courtenay). Moderate climate (maybe snows 1x/year), sheltered from west coast weather in the leeside of the island mountain range, not hot in the summer, free health care, bike paths. On the water (Georgia Straight) for fishing.

No real 'big city' nearby though--Victoria (pop 300,000) is nice but it isn't a real city.
Expensive to travel back and forth to the mainland though.

My town, Parker, CO, was just voted by CNN as one of the top 15 towns to live in. Little crime, 100's of miles of excellent bike paths, superb athletic and cultural facilities, lots of community involvement if so desired, etc.

Winters here are not nearly as "bad" as most people think. And, more sunny days than San Diego.

However, housing is more expensive than it used to be. The housing downturn barely affected us.

I'm going to look that up, Dnvr, thanks.

Your right about that, thanks anyhow.

I heard it once said that life is like a **** sandwich ... the more bread you have, the less **** you have to eat.

Where best to retire depends on your assets, and your taste in weather. I'd take a hard look at southern Utah, coastal central California, and the Nevada side of Eastern California (Reno). Parts of Colorado, Idaho and east of the Cascades in Oregon are nice too.

Congrats being ready to retire on reasonable terms ... that sounds pretty good right about now.

I live in an area with very low crime. Trust me, it's not everything.

Come on now, we don't have "free" medical that's what we pay all those taxes for. Oh , about those high ferry fares, why do you need to go over to the Big Smoke for we have everything we need over here without the congestion and smog.

We got out of Atlanta because of the traffic, crime, noise, traffic, and all the people. Did I mention the traffic and all the people?
We moved to the west coast of FL, about an hour north of Tampa. Several paved bike trails nearby. A lot of folks around here enjoy fishing just offshore in the Gulf. There's also kayaking and horseback riding. I know there are a lot of other things to do but we've only been here for 9+ months. I'm also an archer and there's a great archery group here too.

Well, there is always Vermont. Very low crime, not heavily populated. Winters: Harsh, especially in the northern part of the state.
Very, very high taxes, and very 60s-style, hippy-dippy politics. I believe Montpelier is the only state capitol in the nation that does
not have a McDonalds.

I'm thinking about Portland, Maine. But, it has become expensive, like pretty much everyplace else.

I was just over there Ron and it looked pretty crowded. I was only there for a day, but went I lived up in the panhandle I lost part of my house and a sailboat that I had for 23 years. That's why I'm over here now.

There ain't no free lunch.
On the other hand, few people would ever pick Katy as a vacation haven, either.
If you get as far away from all the people you can, you'll likely have less crime. Of course, out in the boondocks, there's still people cooking up meth and all, so it's not like there's a perfect solution.
The head-in-the-sand approach is not that far off, though. If you pay attention to the news, you'll think the world is just one big disaster, because that's what sells. We have "heat index" to make hot days sound hotter and "chill factor" to make cold weather sound colder and if 24 people die in a disaster that's "dozens"- just whatever can be done to sensationalize the news will be done. So you can either sit around and worry about things that you can't do anything about, or you can turn the news off and get on with life.

If you pay attention to the news, you'll think the world is just one big disaster

Surveys show that most people believe crime is worse than ever, but it's actually declined significantly since the 80s.

I live about 10 miles outside a city of about 200,000 (Tallahassee, FL) in a tiny hamlet. Most days, I can ride 40 miles on nice country roads without ever putting my feet down. (The bike club comes out here to ride as there are so many relatively car free roads and the cars there are seem very accommodating to cyclists.) Been here near 20 years and the only crime I know of in the immediate area is the odd theft from a car overnight. And even that seems pretty rare. I seldom lock my truck at night and have no fear taking a walk at midnight. Close enough to the city to be near enough to hospitals and shopping (although sometimes it seems a bit of a pain as running out to the supermarket is a ten mile drive). No problem riding year round, although I miss a few days in the winter as I really don't care to ride if it below the mid 50s. All things considered, I can't really think of a place I'd rather be.

Ft Collins, CO... best drivers in the country, low crime, its a platinum rated cycling town, near all sorts of recreation, housing prices are not too inflated... good medical etc.

I think I'd like to retire to Fawnskin, CA. Not cheap but not too bad. Plenty of cycling, both road and mountain, plus hiking and kayaking. Swimming in the summer of course, snow in the winter (even though I'm not a skier). No crime to speak of. Big city down the hill if we want that.

Have to see how it all works out when I get older and want to retire.

Rick / OCRR

Northwest Arkansas. Four seasons. Cycling, hunting, fishing, hiking, golf. We have a number of good bike shops up here and a developing trail system known as the Razorback Greenway. When it is completed, the will be a bicycle route south from Bella Vista all the way to the southern reaches of Fayetteville. A good portion of it is completed.

Some of the Walton family built the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. That is in the Rogers-Bentonville area. The Walton Arts Center in Fayetteville has live entertainment on stage on a regular basis.

Although I do my best to avoid them, we do have three large hospitals in the area.

As I understand it, Bella Vista has a large population of retirees + at least 5 golf courses.

When you hear about a city and want to check it out, this site is very good. It has data on crime, weather and just about anything else you could want to know about.

http://www.city-data.com/

Well I moved to close to Spokane on the Washington / Idaho border primarily for the affordable real estate so I could get a decent house paid for before I retire.

Well it turns out that Spokane's auto theft rate is the 4th highest in the country, lol.

Heck I could have had a high auto theft rate back in San Diego. I liked it there, and the winters are more moderate than just about anywhere. I just can't afford the real estate.

Like "on the path" said in post 7, Low crime rate isn't everything.

Listen to your friends! Stop watching tv news, especially local tv news. According to local tv news *everything* is out to kill you.

+1 to what Jon C. said.


c&p from http://www.crimeinamerica.net/crime-...united-states/

The summation from the National Crime Survey (cited above) is as follows: “These declines in violent and property victimizations continued a larger trend of decreasing criminal victimization in the United States. In 2010, violent and property victimization rates fell to their lowest levels since the early 1990s. From 1993 to 2010, the violent crime victimization rate decreased 70 percent, dropping steadily from about 50 victimizations per 1,000 persons age 12 or older in 1993 to about 15 per 1,000 in 2010. The property crime victimization rate fell 62 percent, from about 319 victimizations per 1,000 households in 1993 to 120 per 1,000 in 2010.”
From the Associated Press: “Experts are surprised at how much crime is declining as shown in the Justice Department’s National Crime Victimization Survey, criminologist Alfred Blumstein of Carnegie Mellon University tells the Associated Press. From 1993 through 2010, the rate of violent crime has declined by a whopping 70 percent: from 49.9 violent crimes per 1,000 persons age 12 or older to only 14.9 per 1,000 in 2010. Half of this decline came between 1993 and 2001. Between 2001 and 2009, violent crime declined at a more modest annual average of 4 percent, but that rate decline jumped to 13 percent in 2010.”

Is crime worse than ever? Seems to me like crime rates in the US have dropped over the past decade.

For better or worse, we live in the era of the 24 hour news cycle. Anything bad get looped endlessly until its replaced by something else as violent or lurid or whatever.

The news never has, and never will, run stories like "Meanwhile, 299 million Americans quietly went about their business and nothing unusual happened to any of them".

What passes for news is truly morbid entertainment for many. I'm extremely selective about what I watch, listen to, or read. I believe that I do not have my head in the sand. But, if someone wants to call it that, I'd remind them that it's better having my head in the sand than in that bucket of slop that drives ratings. We can pick the information we want to use in helping us make decisions; we can filter it. I remember having a conversation with a man sitting on his front stoop in one of the, according to most, more "dangerous" neighborhoods in Philadelphia. He said that he has lived there all of his life, the neighbors next to him and two across the street have lived there for over 40 years with never a problem with crime. Looking back on it, I'm embarassed I responded, "Really"? He smiled shaking his head and said something along the lines of, "More folks living here a decent folks regardless of what the newspapers say."

Actually I live in Cinco Ranch TX and it’s rated as one of the top places to live and it is nice here. I just have to quit watching the news. I just cant get over some of the things people do to each other. It sure isn’t like when I was a younger person. Most of the news that we get here is from Houston and I live 35 miles from there. I just have to forget about it I guess. We do have a lot of friends here, but I have to tell you, it sure is HOT.

Thanks for all the replies everybody. I think I’ll go riding.

I'm looking at Edwardsville, Il. and Columbia, MO. Both are collage towns with lengthy networks of bike-paths and trails. The weather is milder than Chicago and the crime rate is far lower. Using Amtrak, I can put my bike on the train and be anywhere in the midwest the same day or in the Rockies the next day.

in the same theme as others have mentioned, is the crime you refer to actual or just what you get through the media? In fact, with the exception of certain areas in cities like Chicago crime(other than BIG crime by the financial industry) is way down. Even in the "high crime" areas in big cities it is mainly marketing disputes between illegal drug distribution networks because they can't use the usual court system.

Then, is the crime Stranger Crime or Acquaintance Crime. In my state, for example, we have a young, alcohol consuming, relatively transient population so sex crimes, domestic violence between known individuals and the like are pretty high. But, a person has very little to fear from anyone else.

Media and politicians don't like to differentiate because it is to their advantage to keep you fearful and ignorant.

To me climate is really not an issue. I have preferences but the Critical Thing is the lifestyle I can have while I'm there. It is easy to put on a coat or turn up the air conditioning if the local culture matches.

Available services when I can no longer drive is a big deal to me also. Many "retirement communities" have few or no provisions for having a life if a person can't drive. Sometimes they claim public or other transportation. But, upon checking, I find it is actually pretty bad except for the poor who can use state assistance and the wealthy who can afford to hire a driver or take a taxi.

well yes, watching news can raise your blood pressure. And indeed Nationally crime has gone down. still there are hot spots for specific crime. You moved from an area that was fast becoming a contender for the champion 187 city in the US, more Americans are shot in Chicago than Afghanistan every month. But even that is a spin because they only count Americans shot. So where you are would seem like an improvement. But the news only gets interest from reporting bad news so bad news is what you get. :eek: And while some crime is going down nation wise the news will report on political agendas. They will say how violent the US is because of gun ownership but when you go to a report on world murder rates the US in may cases isn't in the top 100.

The other thing is what your dream is. For some it is living in a highly dense area of population with people living right next to each other and the sky blocked off by tall buildings is a dream come true. To them all of nature if found in a window flower box and a advertising display. To others a dream come true is a smaller community made up of homes with yards and neighborhood schools. Places where kids play sports on groomed soccer, football and baseball fields and you can see trees. Then there are those that like a more rural setting or a mountain setting. We all have different dreams and will resist living the dream of others if they are foisted on us. :D

In short you can make a dream come true in many places, and if where you live isn't what you want, move. When you are retired that too can be a dream. I have moved from places simply because it rained too much. :lol: