Redding CA??? (Anderson, Shasta Lake, Cottonwood: best towns, foreclosed, city hall)

[scrammy]

I subscribed to this thread last year when I was contemplating whether to move to Nashville or Austin. The recent postings back and forth have prompted me to post as well. My parents live in Redding and I had lived here all through high school and my first year of college. Although we thoroughly researched, visited, and loved both Nashville & Austin, due to the urging of family & friends, we ultimately chose Redding, as had been pointed out, the cost of living here is comparable to Nashville & Austin as are schools (the public schools are not stellar in any of these 3 areas we researched).

It's been 11 months since I moved to Redding and in my opinion (and that is all it is, my personal opinion) There are only 2 real drawbacks to living in Redding. The 1st is travel by air, and the second is decent paying jobs.

1st, Travel by air, flying in and out of the Redding Airport is just plain expensive, there are no 2 ways around it, your only other options are to drive to chico or sacramento and fly from one of those airports but then after you factor gas and parking, you may as well fly out of Redding. I hear this is true though of any small town not near a major international airport.

The second drawback is employment. I had savings and credit to lean on, I stuck it out for 6 months and found a job I love (I'll be paying off credit cards for the next couple of years though), my daughter made new friends instantly, it took me a little longer but I too have made some wonderful new friends and reconnected with old friends too.

Okay, lets talk about some of the other things people have mentioned. I agree, it's hot here but its dry, really! In Southern CA I lived in the San Fernando Valley and it feels much hotter there due to the humidity than it does here in Redding. Next, you really do have the benefits of the city in a gorgeous setting. The slower pace and lack of traffic is elixir for the soul (and yes, those of you who live in Redding and complain about traffic make me laugh, the worst traffic here doesn't even appear as a blip in the radar compared to Southern CA!). We live in a little subdivision and can still walk to a nearby creek for the kids to investigate. I've spent years living in the city and visiting Redding, now as a parent, I feel living in Redding and visiting the city is the perfect balance. I do not feel that "bigotry" prevails, though I would feel more comfortable if we had a more diverse cultural representation, I assume that will come in time. Everyone I've met here have been smiling, extraordinarily friendly, and helpful, I can only credit the quality of life here for that. In Southern CA public health seemed to be focused on educating the masses about pot addiction and a father's responsibility to prevent unplanned pregnancy, here in Redding we hear more about meth. Not sure why, but all are concerns everywhere you go.

In the end I feel it all comes down to the fact that no where is perfect, so where do you want to put down your efforts to make things better? I love that so many in this community are so involved and invested in making things better, so many! As a parent, I feel in this day and age, no matter where you live, you really have to be involved, there is just no other way around it. You get out of it what you put in, if you sit around and wait for someone else to create a perfect world for you, you'll be waiting a long, long time.

We are very happy here in Redding, and I think anyone that comes here intending to be happy will too. I definitely would not pass on Redding, but take your time to get know it and all it's neighborhoods, don't just drive through town. Go to Turtle Bay, the mall, the Riverwalk, Whiskeytown Lake, the Library, the grocery store and post office. I think you'll find it beautiful, charming, and yes, a little rough around the edges! Do you want to put your efforts here? If so, come on out and join us, the best is yet to come!!!

[robertpolyglot]

Originally Posted by scrammy

I agree, it's hot here but its dry, really! In Southern CA I lived in the San Fernando Valley and it feels much hotter there due to the humidity than it does here in Redding.

I think you'll find it beautiful, charming, and yes, a little rough around the edges! Do you want to put your efforts here? If so, come on out and join us, the best is yet to come!!!

I have to laugh out loud at this part....people referring to ANY part of California as humid. I am from L.A. and that's NOT humid. It can be uncomfortable when the heat mixes with the smog. When I lived in Reno, people who moved to Nevada from Sacramento referred to Sacramento as humid. It's just that the place you are using as a baseline is much dryer. Reno was hell for me because it was TOO dry...it was recommended I get a humidifier for my house. When you are referring to humid, you ought to use Atlanta, New Orleans or Washington DC as baselines. Now, in the summer, those are humid.

[muloorj]

plan on moving to redding. haven't heard any thing good so far about it. how r schools there.

[muloorj]

reading your post gave me some hope. all other postings gave a thumbs down to redding. I plan to move there with my 2 kids and am looking at a good school and a safe enviornment.

Originally Posted by scrammy

I subscribed to this thread last year when I was contemplating whether to move to Nashville or Austin. The recent postings back and forth have prompted me to post as well. My parents live in Redding and I had lived here all through high school and my first year of college. Although we thoroughly researched, visited, and loved both Nashville & Austin, due to the urging of family & friends, we ultimately chose Redding, as had been pointed out, the cost of living here is comparable to Nashville & Austin as are schools (the public schools are not stellar in any of these 3 areas we researched).

It's been 11 months since I moved to Redding and in my opinion (and that is all it is, my personal opinion) There are only 2 real drawbacks to living in Redding. The 1st is travel by air, and the second is decent paying jobs.

1st, Travel by air, flying in and out of the Redding Airport is just plain expensive, there are no 2 ways around it, your only other options are to drive to chico or sacramento and fly from one of those airports but then after you factor gas and parking, you may as well fly out of Redding. I hear this is true though of any small town not near a major international airport.

The second drawback is employment. I had savings and credit to lean on, I stuck it out for 6 months and found a job I love (I'll be paying off credit cards for the next couple of years though), my daughter made new friends instantly, it took me a little longer but I too have made some wonderful new friends and reconnected with old friends too.

Okay, lets talk about some of the other things people have mentioned. I agree, it's hot here but its dry, really! In Southern CA I lived in the San Fernando Valley and it feels much hotter there due to the humidity than it does here in Redding. Next, you really do have the benefits of the city in a gorgeous setting. The slower pace and lack of traffic is elixir for the soul (and yes, those of you who live in Redding and complain about traffic make me laugh, the worst traffic here doesn't even appear as a blip in the radar compared to Southern CA!). We live in a little subdivision and can still walk to a nearby creek for the kids to investigate. I've spent years living in the city and visiting Redding, now as a parent, I feel living in Redding and visiting the city is the perfect balance. I do not feel that "bigotry" prevails, though I would feel more comfortable if we had a more diverse cultural representation, I assume that will come in time. Everyone I've met here have been smiling, extraordinarily friendly, and helpful, I can only credit the quality of life here for that. In Southern CA public health seemed to be focused on educating the masses about pot addiction and a father's responsibility to prevent unplanned pregnancy, here in Redding we hear more about meth. Not sure why, but all are concerns everywhere you go.

In the end I feel it all comes down to the fact that no where is perfect, so where do you want to put down your efforts to make things better? I love that so many in this community are so involved and invested in making things better, so many! As a parent, I feel in this day and age, no matter where you live, you really have to be involved, there is just no other way around it. You get out of it what you put in, if you sit around and wait for someone else to create a perfect world for you, you'll be waiting a long, long time.

We are very happy here in Redding, and I think anyone that comes here intending to be happy will too. I definitely would not pass on Redding, but take your time to get know it and all it's neighborhoods, don't just drive through town. Go to Turtle Bay, the mall, the Riverwalk, Whiskeytown Lake, the Library, the grocery store and post office. I think you'll find it beautiful, charming, and yes, a little rough around the edges! Do you want to put your efforts here? If so, come on out and join us, the best is yet to come!!!

[the city]

I would live nearby the city, like in the mountains, cause it's hot in redding.

Anderson has an outlet mall, Redding has a nice downtown, enclosed mall, and strip mall for shopping. they also have a water park in the area.

there was a teacher from my school that moved there, it's a great area. As far as crime and druggies go, it's about the same as any other medium sized city in california. but everything around the city is a paradise. it's probably one of the best counties in california.

[happ]

WoW surprised to read some of the comments about Redding [kinda scary].

Spent much of my childhood in Chico [about 100 miles south & off the major freeways. Summers start in May & are very hot until October but nights were cool in Chico. Unfortunately, Redding sits at the top of the Sacramento valley [above the valley floor]. Bakersfield, some 500 miles south, is in the upper valley of the San Joaquin. Redding & Bakersfield are hotter than other Central Valley but not by much & due to their higher elevation. I think the hot nights finally wear people down. BTW Redding has less fog & warmer days than the rest of the Valley during winter.

But the incredible beauty of Redding is certainly a draw. House boating on Shasta lake is heaven for fishing, swimming in warm water & looking at the stars at night.

[kettlepot]

Originally Posted by muloorj

plan on moving to redding. haven't heard any thing good so far about it. how r schools there.

There is a sticky at the top of the San Diego forum that links to a state website that color codes all of the public schools in California by API score. Be sure to check it out.

Now what you will notice is that Redding doesn't have the top rated schools like you will find in the wealthy suburbs surrounding the major metro areas. This doesn't indicate that Redding schools are of a lower quality. In the big metro areas with large populations the people self-select by income level, and the better performing students go to suburban schools that make the test results skew higher.

In Redding the population that feeds into the schools is much more general and so you get a much wider economic cross-section attending. The key to getting a good education in Redding schools is to get your kids into the college track classes in high school, and into the faster paced study groups in elementary school. If you do this, and pay attention to your kids course work, listen to what they have to say about their teachers ability to teach, and take action if needed, your kids will get a good education.

[SSIwillbebrokeby2010]

Originally Posted by notmeofficer

We have IRON mountain.. one of the number one superfund sites in the US... they keep dumping soda down the mineshafts to stop the sulphuric acid left over from years of toxic copper mining.. the shafts keep seeping from cracks in the substrata

Theres a huge cut in the mountainside where the site is. You can see it from anywhere in Redding as you look west up above Shasta Dam.. its also why the water is green up there

Clean up progress... heck I dont really know for sure... but the govt is throwing huge sums of money at it.

The seat of the pants air quality has changed substantially over the past several years
this is based upon
Construction-dust silt etc
Pollution coming up the valley from Sac etc.. Redding is at the base of mountains in a horseshoe.. the air comes here.. stops and swirls around
Changing population density,,, its growing folks

We notice a really different water quality during the winter and periods of high turbidity .. lots of chlorine.. we did defeat fluoride in the city water.. we, as end users, filter all our drinking water with high quality primary and secondary filters.. while this is an expensive proposition we maintain high water quality because of it.. We do not trust any municipality completely with something so important

Water is life... good water up here is worth a 20k premium on a rural parcel.. easily...

You mention the sulphuric acid. I think your talking about the site out Iron Mountain Road, right?
Could you tell me notmeofficer, is that sulphur smell driving up 299 West just after the Old Shasta Historic Museum, almost at the Ranger Station there at the turn to go to Wiskeytown, is that sulphur smell there from that sulphur? I always wonder what is that smell!

[notmeofficer]

Originally Posted by SSIwillbebrokeby2010

You mention the sulphuric acid. I think your talking about the site out Iron Mountain Road, right?
Could you tell me notmeofficer, is that sulphur smell driving up 299 West just after the Old Shasta Historic Museum, almost at the Ranger Station there at the turn to go to Wiskeytown, is that sulphur smell there from that sulphur? I always wonder what is that smell!

I travel 299 every week to WHYTWN... but Ive never smelled sulpher there.. and yes.. it is Iron Mountain I was referring to.. if you go up behind Keswick Dam or anywhere on the S/W of Lake Shasta you can see it.. and sometimes if close enough to the collection ponds smell it.. but thats pretty rare and you'd have to get close.. with enough soda they can neutralize just about anything

I wouldnt be surprised if Old Shasta doesnt have some sulpher type wells out there leaking from underground water that gets contaminated.. the superfund site would have more info on this.. Im sure it gets tracked

[Benchracer]

Originally Posted by theslightedge75

...(except for the asians that are paid to live here due to some Vietnam service thing from the government and the middle eastern poeple that get all kinds of free grant money and zero to very low business loans from uncle sam for foreign diplomacyand oil issues) but you know what, I don't have anybody to blame but myself for staying here so long and expecting a bunch of "whites" (whether they are prejudice or not) to accept me as being just as human as they are. AND NO I am not a criminal, thug or drug user, or I would have promptly long ago been put away in Susanville prison by the system that does one terrific job at putting minorities that commit crimes behind bars because in our pathetic justice system....its better to be guilty and rich than innocent and poor..and we all know what race of people are predominantly rich in this country DON'T WE?

Perhaps those rich people are wealthy because they choose to get productive rather than spending their time blaming others for their woes. But what do I know? I'm just a white guy - who's obviously a suppresive, racist pig, because he's white.

Who is John Galt?