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Areas to live in Grand Junction

Original Post
Seth Shane · · Hawley, PA · Joined Feb 2021 · Points: 0

Have some job opportunities in the Grand Junction area. My girlfriend is hesitant because she's heard there high crime rates in the area and wants to feel safe when I'm gone on longer climbing trips. Is there areas that are nicer to live in or areas to avoid, assuming cost wasnt an issue? Other opportunities for areas more in the front range, but I think GJ is more my style than living somewhere like Denver or surrounding areas.

Eric J · · Western Slope, CO · Joined May 2005 · Points: 0

I'd check out the Redlands.  It is both a low crime area and really close to excellent hiking and biking.  

Airbiscuit · · Grand Junction, Co · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 1,515

I love it here, and have for close to twenty years.   the “crime” is honestly from a reputation GJ got in the late 90’s and early 2000’s that it has not been able to escape till recently.  Colorado got tough on hard drugs and that element honestly disappeared in 2005 with a huge drug bust.  Now, It’s no worse than any other metropolitan area.  

I have lived In many places over the years and have yet to find a place with the amount of access to different types of outdoor Rec that GJ has. 

Clifton is definitely the “worst” part of town, and farthest from any local Rec.  

Frazer · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2014 · Points: 0

The dumpiest of dumps in CO is better than pretty much anything PA is offering in general.  So much to do on the western slope and you for sure can find a spot that isn't a hole if your budget isn't a huge concern.  

Steve Williams · · The state of confusion · Joined Jul 2005 · Points: 235

Avoid Clifton. . .

Aaron K · · Western Slope CO · Joined Jun 2022 · Points: 270
Frazer wrote:

The dumpiest of dumps in CO is better than pretty much anything PA is offering in general.  

And a lot more expensive 

Frazer · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2014 · Points: 0
Aaron K wrote:

And a lot more expensive 

But worth it :).  I fully invite all CO, CA, TX, ID, or whatever other state folks that crushed it with their property values sky rocketing to come to PA and help drive our values up as well.  Please come enjoy living mortgage free with your proceeds!  There is climbing here, and within few (to several) hours drive world class crags abound.  Please help PA be the next Sun Valley.

Edit: To the OP... Living in Palisade to the east or Fruita to the west would be cool as well.

Newt Riverman · · Denver, CO · Joined Jul 2019 · Points: 0

Fruita is nice, particularly if you like to mountain bike. Loma as well.  Some areas of GJ are mostly retirees in new construction homes and can be pretty nice/quiet. 

Avoid Clifton for sure, great place to do some Walmart watching however!

My family lives down near the down of Whitewater, its just south of GJ proper. Low crime rates, quiet ranch land type setting.

Klaus theK · · Fruita · Joined Oct 2018 · Points: 1

Very high crime rates in the last few years, especially in the violent crime categories. Corrupt local government, just Google Tina peters. Air quality is terrible because of the microclimate caused by the valley. Very, very hot dusty air gets trapped in the grand valley for weeks at a time. High cost of living in addition to no housing, 1200 square foot one car no yard row houses going for 390. One real hospital that is very busy and a two little pretend hospitals. Serious homelessness problems. No night life or culture. Crappy food except for pizza, several excellent pizza options. Mediocre schools. Weakening economy only going to get worse. Terrible roads. Crowded trails. Far from the actual mountains. Local rock is all choss and good rock is all at least 60 minutes away. Those are all legitimate problems. Other locals will disagree and paint a rosy picture, but don’t say you weren’t warned  

 

Seth Shane · · Hawley, PA · Joined Feb 2021 · Points: 0
Klaus theK wrote:

Very high crime rates in the last few years, especially in the violent crime categories. Corrupt local government, just Google Tina peters. Air quality is terrible because of the microclimate caused by the valley. Very, very hot dusty air gets trapped in the grand valley for weeks at a time. High cost of living in addition to no housing, 1200 square foot one car no yard row houses going for 390. One real hospital that is very busy and a two little pretend hospitals. Serious homelessness problems. No night life or culture. Crappy food except for pizza, several excellent pizza options. Mediocre schools. Weakening economy only going to get worse. Terrible roads. Crowded trails. Far from the actual mountains. Local rock is all choss and good rock is all at least 60 minutes away. Those are all legitimate problems. Other locals will disagree and paint a rosy picture, but don’t say you weren’t warned  

 

I appreciate the different take. Honestly no night life doesn't bother me and I already live in a place with hardly any food options and terrible roads. Even being 60 mins from good rock isn't all that bad as where I live now I'm usually in the 2 hour range to any rock and don't have a climbing gym here either. Even the housing part is something that seems to be all over. Houses in the front range are even more than that and the pay isn't all that great. I'm still considering the front range, but I think the proximity for rock and ice in the GJ area seems more appealing. No experience with having bad air quality like that though.

Chad Miller · · Grand Junction, CO · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 150
Klaus theK wrote:

Very high crime rates in the last few years, especially in the violent crime categories. Corrupt local government, just Google Tina peters. 

I don't know about the high crime rates.  I've lived here for eight years and never had any issue with crime.  You may hang out with a rough crowd and get into shady stuff though so your experiences could be different.     I agree about Tina Peters.  Good thing she was fired before she could do anything.   

Air quality is terrible because of the microclimate caused by the valley. Very, very hot dusty air gets trapped in the grand valley for weeks at a time. 

Inversions can happen 1 -2 times a year.  Typically they last for 3-5 days.  Overall the air quality is quite good.

High cost of living in addition to no housing, 1200 square foot one car no yard row houses going for 390. 

It is high but compared to the rest of the country housing costs are around 1% higher than average.  Compared to the rest of Colorado it's about 30% less. 

One real hospital that is very busy and a two little pretend hospitals. 

The hospitals here are all decent.  The large hospital is busy because it's registered trauma center for all of western CO and eastern UT.  Also the Grand Valley (Palisade, Clifton, Orchard Mesa, Grand Junction, Fruita, and Loma) have a combined population of around 250,000.  For a population of that size the community has a lot of hospitals. 

Serious homelessness problems. 

Bullshit.  The homeless numbers are below the national average.  It's just that they are highly visible.  

No night life or culture. Crappy food except for pizza, several excellent pizza options. 

Meh.  It's OK.  

Mediocre schools. 

Correct.  Although the community is working hard to improve the schools and doing a good job accomplishing it. 

Weakening economy only going to get worse. 

Bullshit.  It's actually getting much better since abandoning oil and natural gas. 

Terrible roads. Crowded trails. Far from the actual mountains. 

Depends on where you go I guess.  In two hours you can be all by yourself in a lot of mountains.  

Local rock is all choss and good rock is all at least 60 minutes away. 

True.  Then again the rock that's 60 min away is great with hundreds of multi pitch trad lines.  

Those are all legitimate problems. Other locals will disagree and paint a rosy picture, but don’t say you weren’t warned  

Oh come now.  You live in Fruita - the most  pretentious and expensive city in the Grand Valley.  I think you're just upset that someone painted their house a color you don't like. 

Chad Miller · · Grand Junction, CO · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 150

A few things about Grand Junction that haven't been mentioned yet . . .

Geography

It's part of the Grand Valley.  This is comprised of (east to west):  Palisade, Cliffton, Orchard Mesa, Grand Junction, Fruita, Loma.  Fruita is probably the most expensive place to live. 

It's high desert, like almost Utah.  

Grand Junction is the largest city on the Western Slope.  

Weather

Mild winters with little to no snow down in the Grand Valley.  If you want snow you can visit the Grand Mesa an hour away and play in the 15 feet of snow they get annually.  

The summers will be hot!  July and August temps will reach the low 100's.  

Politics

The valley around 60% conservatives.  Most people are really nice regardless however you will run into the hard core MAGA and millita types.  

Climbing Gyms

There are two gyms in the valley.  One is Grand Valley Climbing.  The other is Gripped Bouldering.   

Klaus theK · · Fruita · Joined Oct 2018 · Points: 1

Chad- are you on the chamber of commerce? Geez. Quit selling us out, we're full. 

Chad Miller · · Grand Junction, CO · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 150

We're not full.  Not even close.  Knock it off with your ignorant 'go home we're full' NIMBYism.  

I hate to break it to you Klaus but the grand valley is one of the few remaining affordable areas to live near the 'mountains' of Colorado.  The city of Grand Junction has known this and for the past decade has been improved and expanding the cities infrastructure.  The long term master plan for Grand Junction is a population of around 350,000.  

Klaus theK · · Fruita · Joined Oct 2018 · Points: 1
Chad Miller wrote:

We're not full.  Not even close.  Knock it off with your ignorant 'go home we're full' NIMBYism.  

I hate to break it to you Klaus but the grand valley is one of the few remaining affordable areas to live near the 'mountains' of Colorado.  The city of Grand Junction has known this and for the past decade has been improved and expanding the cities infrastructure.  The long term master plan for Grand Junction is a population of around 350,000.  

Go take a lookat the desert anywhere within 30 minutes of gj and tell me the local ecosystem can handle twice the human population. It ain’t Nimbyism. 

Chad Miller · · Grand Junction, CO · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 150

The micro and macro ecological systems can handle 3.5 x the current population of the grand valley (approx 870,000) if things are done correctly. This takes into account continuing reduced water availability and has a 25% safety factor.  Total population of the grand valley would be in to 400,000 (350k for GJ and 50k for surrounding towns / cities)  

I sincerely hope you are actually concerned about the ecology of the area. The community needs more ecologically minded people to help with the responsible growth and development of the community. Feel free to shoot me a PM about various groups you can get involved with to make sure that sustainable design measures and processes are implemented throughout the grand valley.  

I'd hate to learn that your ecological concerns where just a defence for a NIMBYism viewpoint.    

Klaus theK · · Fruita · Joined Oct 2018 · Points: 1

Your optimism is admirable. I’m more of a realist. 

Steve Williams · · The state of confusion · Joined Jul 2005 · Points: 235

A population of 350K.  The chamber of commerce's wet dream.

Chad Miller · · Grand Junction, CO · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 150
Klaus theK wrote:

Your optimism is admirable. I’m more of a realist. 

I am realist.  I’m confident that GJ can grow to 350k with no ecological or environmental damage.  

What do I know though. I’ve only been architect for 20 years with a speciality in sustainable designed cities and buildings.

Now IF GJ will reach 350k is yet to be seen.

 

Chad Miller · · Grand Junction, CO · Joined Nov 2006 · Points: 150
Steve Williams wrote:

A population of 350K.  The chamber of commerce's wet dream.

It will at least reach 280k within the next decade.  Sustainable growth beyond that will require targeted and long term changes to the areas education and socioeconomic systems.   Changes to both of those areas that will promote that growth began about five years ago. 

Kevinmurray · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2012 · Points: 0

Ummmm, water

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

Colorado
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