Redding CA??? (San Francisco, Sacramento, Napa: appointed, fit in, renting)

[Sorcerer68]

My best friend is from Redding and refers to it as Hell. I spent 3 days there once in the middle of the summer and decided I agreed with her. Check out Grass Valley.

[kettlepot]

Originally Posted by donewithsocal

My DH goes there all the time to fly-fish. The fishing is awesome and the river is beautiful. We briefly considered moving there. Wouldn't live there if you paid me. Between the heat, sex offenders and meth problems there (you can't just buy Sudafed at the market, you have to get it from behind the pharmacy counter and they have a system where they can track how often you buy it) - just too many turn offs.

You can't buy Sudafed off the shelf anywhere anymore. It isn't just forbidden in Redding.

I think most of these comments from the previous posters are too harsh. Redding is pretty typical of any other Central Valley town. Same weather. Same shopping. Same economic pressures. Same general late-20th century sprawl. I don't see Redding as being much different from any other of the smaller valley cities, such as Modesto, Merced, Visalia, Tracy, etc., except perhaps the mountains are closer, and the views are better.

[akm4]

I disagree, Redding is not representative of most Central Valley towns, IMO. It's the most depressing place I have ever lived. I still have family there. They have their own business and are extremely involved in the public schools their children attend, or it would be even worse. I cannot imagine why they stay there.

Socially, I would describe it as close-minded, econonomically it's struggling, and politically it is not a place where one finds open debate.

HELL.

[Roaddog]

All I can say is Redding may be hot in the summer but it is a gateway to some beutiful contry, if you like the outdoors it can be a great place to live.

[Lori_UOP]

Wow, I am amazed to see some of the quotes here. I was born and raised in this area, moved away and came back. NO WHERE is perfect. Yes, it does get hot here in the summer, but the entire California valley does as well. Is it 110+ all summer long..nope, maybe a week or so...average summer temps are in the upper 90s. As for the meth...well, I thought that was a problem everywhere and the pseudoephedrine over the counter wasn't just a ban in Shasta County! But, as for the positives:

We have GREAT schools here. Check out the API scores - both Cottonwood School districts have some of the highest scores in the state.
It is NOT crowded...we are looking at a city with about 80k people and the entire county is about 100k...so the outlying areas are not highly populated.
Recreation abounds...and yes, people recreate often...camping, fishing, hiking, swimming, boating, skiing, packing, anything outdoors is SAFE!!
We may not have a ton of "cultural" things to do but we do have some great exploratory parks and museums and we are only a 2 1/2 hour drive to Sacramento....just a bit more than it takes to get to Susanville...which is actually closer to Reno!
No, we don't have any big industry. But on the positive side of that, we have a lot of smaller employers which means our economy is no longer based on ONE employment area...we saw that crash when the timber industry was cut and all our mills closed....another example of that is what happened to the Silicon Valley when the dot com crash happened....single big industry employers are not good for the local economy on a long term basis.

I have gone on and on, but the bottom line - this is a great place to live, raise a family and retire to...no where is perfect, but I have traveled the world over and found no place I like better than here.

[MajorHart]

Originally Posted by calif

I do have some friends that moved there a couple years ago. When we went to visit last summer it was 117! Yikes! Their air conditioning bill alone was over $300 a month easily. They do like the schools there.

The climate is perfect for swamp coolers in the summer - cover them in winter.

We lived in Phoenix and Tucson 12 years so can handle redding's heat and if it keeps the area from growing too fast - that will be another plus.

I'm sure you're right though - there are a lot of negatives too.

How big is that casino?

[MajorHart]

Originally Posted by theslightedge75

I have lived here for 15 years and as far as I am concerned this place has FAR MORE CONS THAN PROS, especially after the year 2000. It was once affordable to live here with the typical 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1 car garage going for $120K tops but since 2000 it has risen to a rip-off and false economy rate of up to $300K. There are NO jobs here to support that. This area is loaded with pedophiles, bigots, depressed people, too many police that have nothing better to do than write as many traffic citations as possible and scorching HEAT combined with way too much sunshine all year around. Relationships fail alot because of the not so friendly lifestyle to support a good quality of living, ie, false econmoy, poor job market, overcrowded places, standing in line EVERYWHERE you go and only one place for everything to shop at.

The only pros I see are lakes and mountains...but once again everyone crowds those places too. Its a great place for retired people or elderly people that dont want to be outdoors and dont care about recreation.

Just because a town is mostly white - doesn't mean it's full of bigots.

You can see what has happened to the rest of california already.

[MajorHart]

Originally Posted by akm4

I disagree, Redding is not representative of most Central Valley towns, IMO. It's the most depressing place I have ever lived. I still have family there. They have their own business and are extremely involved in the public schools their children attend, or it would be even worse. I cannot imagine why they stay there.

Socially, I would describe it as close-minded, econonomically it's struggling, and politically it is not a place where one finds open debate.

HELL.

Open debate on what?

[MajorHart]

Originally Posted by Lori_UOP

Wow, I am amazed to see some of the quotes here. I was born and raised in this area, moved away and came back. NO WHERE is perfect. Yes, it does get hot here in the summer, but the entire California valley does as well. Is it 110+ all summer long..nope, maybe a week or so...average summer temps are in the upper 90s. As for the meth...well, I thought that was a problem everywhere and the pseudoephedrine over the counter wasn't just a ban in Shasta County! But, as for the positives:

We have GREAT schools here. Check out the API scores - both Cottonwood School districts have some of the highest scores in the state.
It is NOT crowded...we are looking at a city with about 80k people and the entire county is about 100k...so the outlying areas are not highly populated.
Recreation abounds...and yes, people recreate often...camping, fishing, hiking, swimming, boating, skiing, packing, anything outdoors is SAFE!!
We may not have a ton of "cultural" things to do but we do have some great exploratory parks and museums and we are only a 2 1/2 hour drive to Sacramento....just a bit more than it takes to get to Susanville...which is actually closer to Reno!
No, we don't have any big industry. But on the positive side of that, we have a lot of smaller employers which means our economy is no longer based on ONE employment area...we saw that crash when the timber industry was cut and all our mills closed....another example of that is what happened to the Silicon Valley when the dot com crash happened....single big industry employers are not good for the local economy on a long term basis.

I have gone on and on, but the bottom line - this is a great place to live, raise a family and retire to...no where is perfect, but I have traveled the world over and found no place I like better than here.

I've lived in Medford, Lewiston, Klamath Falls, Tucson, Phoenix, San Diego, Stockton, Sacto, Paso Robles and done research on Boise and Portland + many towns and cities in Oklahoma (where if not for the tornados and likelihood of more severe ones now) we would be going. But Redding is in a most beautiful area, has all the mountains we love and the lakes and birds and as older people - we don't need or expect any $75,000 a year income. Here in St. Joseph MO - the same size by the way - we have jobs that don't pay much and not many of them.

There are no perfect places to live - I'd like to hear from some who have found such a place.

MajorHart

[Joe_Ryder]

I lived in Redding for a couple years. I worked in a lumber mill. I really enjoyed that job but the lumber business in CA took a sharp turn for worse. Hard to keep a mill operating when they won't let you cut down trees after all. Oh well, that's water under the bridge.

Redding is hot. It's centrally located so that just about any outdoor activity you want is within easy reach. It's kind of a Redneck town. It also seems to attract tweakers. There is a lot of petty crime. You don't want to leave your lawn furniture out at night because someone will steal it. They'll steal the spark plugs off your motorcycle because I understand they can be made into crack pipes easily.

If you're into fine dining and what some would call a more sophisticated urban lifestyle, Redding isn't the place. If you're into outdoor activities and you can deal with the heat and the tweakers, it's not a bad place at all. Wages aren't very good but the cost of living is lower than most of CA so it balances out. It's a very blue-collar town so if you're blue-collar work should be easy to find. I don't recall seeing any Wall Street types so I doubt if you'd be happy if you're a city person.

Like any place else, I'd recommend you go for a long visit. Rent a place for awhile to get a feel for the town. Go in summer so you can feel the heat. Different types of heat affect different people in different ways. I can deal with hot and humid climates while dry and hot air makes it hard to breathe. Some folks like the desert, I don't. Redding's summer climate is not unlike Death Valley in my opinion. Of course, I was raised in a hot and humid climate so it's normal for me.

There were a lot of things I liked about Redding and a lot I didn't. It doesn't really stand out in any one area except for the fact that it's really hot.