Yakima has been suffering from crime waves one way or another since the '80s. It was known for a boom in cocaine usage and sales back then, apparently even 60 Minutes came to Yakima to report on it one time. I wish I could find a video of it. Gangs have been around in Yakima since then or maybe a little later.
It's a 52% Hispanic market, I understand. Many have taken on careers that the average Joe works in and have succeeded in them. Yakima has plenty of Hispanic teachers, lawyers and doctors (Mariano Morales sells airtime about every 30 minutes on local TV for his personal injury/accident law office), and the graduation rates are getting higher. There are a lot of hard-working Hispanics in the Yakima Valley and I applaud them. We've had farmworkers here for decades, as early as the Bracero program in the '40s. And Cesar Chavez came by Yakima at least once, I think around 1970.
That doesn't mean it's paradise. Shootings still happen weekly, many fatal; stabbings occur often on the poor side of town (just tonight a stabbing near 16th.), robberies too (just last night Wapato's Wolf Den gas station got robbed at gunpoint). And of course the gangs...which I worry with the COVID closures, virtual learning and low turnout rate (Yakima SD still reports alarming low student involvement in virtual Zoom learning), are growing again. Much of the Yakima district is low-income too.
Also, Yakima has always been an isolated region. A medium town that's 2 1/2 hours to Seattle or 3 to Portland. Doesn't seem like a long drive, but for some it is. Not as much to do in the Yakima area as in Seattle-Tacoma or Portland due to size. Taking this as normal time and not during COVID - there's usually a skating rink, a bowling alley, one locally-owned arcade, occasional openings of an ice rink, the Central Washington State Fair each year, and parks/rec/pools. And of course outdoor activities like fishing, hunting and nearby hiking opportunities.
Nevertheless, that's how I feel about the city I lived in from 2014-19.
