[quote]mazilla wrote:
woohoo CALIFORNIA. you know it! toetally broooo
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I’m originally from SoCal, so I’m with you on that one mazilla. I still go back and forth a lot, and will probably move back permanently pretty soon. Cost of living is higher, but nothing beats Southern California. Although whenever I go back to California, I remind myself that I should never complain about traffic in Vegas – it’s nothing compared to CA traffic.
You’re so helpful!!! I’m reading and taking in everything you’re posting…thank you!
[quote]Beefcake wrote:
Some more info to help you out:
Not being much of a drinker/partyer: I personally chose Summerlin b/c it’s pretty far from the strip, so it almost feels more like California (lots of stores, parks, restaurants, etc.). There are a couple of new casinos out in Summerlin, but it hasn’t changed much of the community too much (there was some opposition initially to the building of the casinos, but the casinos eventually won). Anyways, the casinos have a different feel then the strip – more geared for locals, and of course, you don’t have to go them anyways. Personally, I don’t really notice them too much. Summerlin area feels more like CA then Vegas, which is a good thing.
decent hospitals: Summerlin area has at least 2 hospitals close by that I know of, and there are several others not too far away.
police force: recently, i’ve been seeing lots of ads (billboards, commercials) for hiring for the Las Vegas Police – guess they have a shortage right now, so they are advertising a lot recently. Also, for something less dangerous, there is always hotel security.
hiking, biking, exercise: there is lots of that out in Summerlin area. Red Rock is just a few miles away (lots of hiking trails there, even rock climbing). Lots of bike trails in Summerlin, parks, and sporting facilities (there are large basketball parks, soccer parks, etc.). Several schools in Summerlin with pretty nice tracks, too.
negatives: the people. large transient population. lots of people with “problems”. I tell my friends all the time, that the problem with living in Las Vegas, is that everyone you meet, is someone from Las Vegas. Seems like majority of people here are out to hustle you for money, cheat you in some way, or just have some major problems (alcohol, drugs, gambling). Hard to find good friends, or just people you can trust. Simple things as finding someone honest to fix stuff in your house can be difficult out here.
I’ll add more stuff later, let me know if you have any other questions.[/quote]
[quote]Beefcake wrote:
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If the people there are a negative, that’s a huge thumbs down. And it really sounds like you miss SoCal. So what was the reason for moving to the Nevada desert in the first place? Just curious…
[quote]Beefcake wrote:
I’ll add more stuff later, let me know if you have any other questions.[/quote]
The idea of a lot of cons in the Las Vegas area is definitely a deterrent. What about other areas outside of Las Vegas? Are they the same?
The hiking/biking activities there are very appealing.
[quote]TeeVee69 wrote:
If the people there are a negative, that’s a huge thumbs down. And it really sounds like you miss SoCal. So what was the reason for moving to the Nevada desert in the first place? Just curious…[/quote]
I moved out to Vegas for work (my client moved out here). I actually have a place in SoCal still, so I end up going back and forth fairly often.
Not sure what you mean by “areas outside of Las Vegas” – Henderson, Summerlin, etc. are all like suburbs of Las Vegas, but it all occupies a relatively small space (Summerlin is actually not a separate city, just a community within Las Vegas). Henderson is about half-way to Boulder City (Hoover Dam area). But it’s all relatively close together.
It’s just weird how most people in this city are just about getting money. And I know there are people like that everywhere, but just a much greater concentration of them here. Of course, there are some decent people in Vegas, just hard to find. It makes me sort of keep to myself.
Just remember that it’s Vegas, 24 hour nightlife, 24 hour drinking, and with enough money, you can get almost anything (or anyone). There are slot machines at every gas station, every grocery store, and even at the airport. Kind of skews the “normalcy” of things and people.
As far as the hiking/biking – lots of that in the Vegas area, but just remember that it’s the desert, so temps in the summer are usually over 100 degrees. Right now (only May), it’s been in the mid-90s. June-August usually hovers in the 90-100 range, but we get up to 110 sometimes. But on the flip side, the fall/winter is usually mild, although we do get some cold days. Sort of like CA weather in fall/winter though. If you like golf, there are lots of great golf courses, too.
Vegas isn’t a horrible place to live – I think for the right person, it’s not too bad. Cost of living is pretty low, and there are lots of stuff for active people in the Vegas area. I guess you just have to be a strong person (grounded, principled) – just so you don’t let the environment affect you.
However, it’s not the best place to raise a family – I have a friend that is thinking of moving back to SoCal because he and his wife are thinking of starting a family soon.
Funny story – when I first moved out to Vegas, I was looking for a good church to attend. I started asking some people if they knew of any good churches out here – the first 5 people I asked gave me a “Huh?” kind of look. Or a “are you serious” sort of look. I ended up trying out a church that a friend’s cousin attended, and the pastor there gave a 5 minute sermon, then a 30 minute offering call. It was actually pretty funny – He was like “The more you give the Lord, the more he will bless you! If you love God, give Him some money! If you love America, give some money!” This went on and on for like 30 minutes. It was a weird mix of spiritual/patriotic ramblings to try to get everyone to empty their wallets. Needless to say, I never went back. Later on, I actually did end up finding a good, conservative church out here in Vegas.
Beefcake has it pretty much on the mark.
I moved here just over 7 yrs ago. I live in Summerlin. Summerlin is very nice especially for families although can be a little snobby. It’s considered an upscale master plan community.
When I first moved here I loved Vegas and continued to love it until about 2 yrs ago. That’s when things really went crazy here. The area is growing so fast the infrastructure is having a tough time keeping up. The construction is everywhere around here. You can’t drive more than a mile on any road without running into a cone zone. Traffic here has gotten out of control. People here are very rude and making friends is very difficult.
I think the big problem is people move here thinking the streets are paved with gold. When they live here for a while they realize it’s like anywhere else and move on. If you are very religious or easily offended by vulgarity and poor taste then Vegas is not the place for you. Some people move here and then want to try to change Vegas to Bible belt USA. When they realize this is SIN CITY they leave. Also it’s not what you know but who you know here, to the extreme.
Vegas also has the largest Hawaiian population outside of Hawaii, so you’ll probably run into a lot folks from your home town. Hell in my neighborhood my next door neighbor is Hawaiian, same with the folks across the street.
It’s difficult to find reliable people here. No one does what they say here and it pisses you off. It can be a very frustrating place to live. Also the medical care in this town is very substandard. You can literally spend days in the Emergency Room here even for serious injuries or illness.
On the positive side there is no shortage of things to do here. If you’re bored here then you’re hard to please or too lazy to leave the house. There’s Red Rock Canyon for hiking and rock climbing and Mount Charleston also for hiking and skiing and snowboarding. There’s also Lake Mead which is a beautiful man made lake with fantastic views, boating, jet skiing, fishing, camping you name it.
The night life is also great. There are clubs galore, restaurants, casinos, etc. We probably have more bars per square foot here than most towns have square feet.
The weather is great here about 9 months out of the year and it doesn’t get really hot until from mid July though early September. And I hate to say it but it’s true, it IS a dry heat. So until you hit the 100 and teens it’s not unbearable here. Winter can have cold days and occasionally light snow especially in Summerlin which is at a higher elevation than most of the area.
As far as law enforcement jobs, there’s the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept, North Las Vegas Police Dept, Nevada Highway Patrol and Henderson PD in the area and all pay over $45K a year to start. They are all actively recruiting as well. Do a Google search and you’ll find their web sites with information on the agencies, qualifications, etc.
The cost of living here is a lot less than Hawaii but climbing rapidly. Wages here are relatively low due to the prevailing wage scale driven down by the Casino industry. They don’t like to pay well and run very tight ships to work for, but they do have great benefits for the most part.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or need any help getting info or whatever.
AssBuster
Very interesting. I’ve often wondered what drives people to move to Vegas. In Beefcake’s case, it was because of his job. But are others attracted by the glitz that is Vegas? (chinadoll?) I know the lack of state income tax is a very powerful incentive, but still…
For me, Vegas has always been the poster-city for “nice place to visit, but wouldn’t want to live there.” Sin City 24/7 would dull the senses after a while. Disillusionment seems to be a common feeling running through both Beefcake and Assbuster’s posts, which is unfortunate.
WOW, thank you for the information! Lots of good input. I’m still “shopping” around for somewhere to move in the continental U.S. The downsides of Las Vegas, I don’t really like. The number one reason I’m looking there is of course, cost of living, and also most of my family live in Reno, The Bay area of California, Dallas Fort Worth and Austin Texas, and also my parents are in Vegas at least six times a year, so I wouldn’t feel so homesick seeing so much family a lot of the time.
Yuck, though, the stories I hear about so many shallow things. A lot of people say they would never want to live there but love to visit. Hmmm…
[quote]assbuster wrote:
Beefcake has it pretty much on the mark.
I moved here just over 7 yrs ago. I live in Summerlin. Summerlin is very nice especially for families although can be a little snobby. It’s considered an upscale master plan community.
When I first moved here I loved Vegas and continued to love it until about 2 yrs ago. That’s when things really went crazy here. The area is growing so fast the infrastructure is having a tough time keeping up. The construction is everywhere around here. You can’t drive more than a mile on any road without running into a cone zone. Traffic here has gotten out of control. People here are very rude and making friends is very difficult.
I think the big problem is people move here thinking the streets are paved with gold. When they live here for a while they realize it’s like anywhere else and move on. If you are very religious or easily offended by vulgarity and poor taste then Vegas is not the place for you. Some people move here and then want to try to change Vegas to Bible belt USA. When they realize this is SIN CITY they leave. Also it’s not what you know but who you know here, to the extreme.
Vegas also has the largest Hawaiian population outside of Hawaii, so you’ll probably run into a lot folks from your home town. Hell in my neighborhood my next door neighbor is Hawaiian, same with the folks across the street.
It’s difficult to find reliable people here. No one does what they say here and it pisses you off. It can be a very frustrating place to live. Also the medical care in this town is very substandard. You can literally spend days in the Emergency Room here even for serious injuries or illness.
On the positive side there is no shortage of things to do here. If you’re bored here then you’re hard to please or too lazy to leave the house. There’s Red Rock Canyon for hiking and rock climbing and Mount Charleston also for hiking and skiing and snowboarding. There’s also Lake Mead which is a beautiful man made lake with fantastic views, boating, jet skiing, fishing, camping you name it.
The night life is also great. There are clubs galore, restaurants, casinos, etc. We probably have more bars per square foot here than most towns have square feet.
The weather is great here about 9 months out of the year and it doesn’t get really hot until from mid July though early September. And I hate to say it but it’s true, it IS a dry heat. So until you hit the 100 and teens it’s not unbearable here. Winter can have cold days and occasionally light snow especially in Summerlin which is at a higher elevation than most of the area.
As far as law enforcement jobs, there’s the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dept, North Las Vegas Police Dept, Nevada Highway Patrol and Henderson PD in the area and all pay over $45K a year to start. They are all actively recruiting as well. Do a Google search and you’ll find their web sites with information on the agencies, qualifications, etc.
The cost of living here is a lot less than Hawaii but climbing rapidly. Wages here are relatively low due to the prevailing wage scale driven down by the Casino industry. They don’t like to pay well and run very tight ships to work for, but they do have great benefits for the most part.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions or need any help getting info or whatever.
AssBuster
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