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Ok...Like your post. I have SEVERE allergies/breathing issues/mold issues...
We (husband and children) currently live in Bend, Oregon. I HATE living here. We are both well educated, and my husband works at the Community College in Bend. We would like to live someplace warmer, sunnier, more opportunities, university town. Bend is VERY boring, and very cold for about 9 months out of the year. The other three months are very, very HOT. There isn't much to do here unless you can afford several thousand dollars/year to participate in winter snow sports. If you don't like cold, snow, being jobless, high cost of living with no employment opportunities, then Bend is not the place for you. Not to mention the transplants from Orange County that have polluted the city with the culture that says you are only good, decent, and "cool" if you have a giant Range Rover, or GMC Denali, house on the butte that is WAY bigger than you need, and outfits that cost thousands of dollars. All of this being said, we want to leave. My husband would like to work at a University. We want warmth, culture, diversity, job opportunities. Do you have any honest opinions about places in California that fit those needs? Also, safety is a pretty big priority for us as well. We would have two children in schools...one in elementary and one in high school. Any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks!!
Hmm, you might like the Central Coast. See X_travelbug_X's post on the cheaper rents in some of the nicer areas. In Monterey your husband could teach at CSUMB. In San Luis Obispo he could work at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. You could live in the outskirt areas like Los Osos which are more affordable. Keep in mind that no place is perfect. There will always be a yeah but. So it is advised that you learn the pros/cons of the places in consideration. Then evaluate them carefully to determine which cons you think you can learn to live with while enjoying the pros.
The coast typically has the best weather with the least amount of pollution.
I'm also a huge fan of SLO county as I'm a resident and have been for years. I grew up in the SF Valley down in LA and while it was fun to grow up there in the 70s/80s I couldn't bring myself to live there now.
I've grown too fond of clean air, lack of crime, lack of pollution, lack of traffic, etc
That being said, we are fair to ave pricing for California standards but nothing like the Bay Area, LA or San Diego...
Tell me more about SLO...I'm in FL and have been for 30+ years. Looking to move the family somewhere that is nice year round and not as hot as it is here (95+ from May until late Sept). Honestly anything south of LA scares me. I'm a teacher at both public school and college-level. Might try seeking college-level there in CA. Daughter will possibly be in high school then. Again-looking for good weather as well as safety. Any tips greatly appreciated.
There are an unimaginable amount of pollutants in the air. For example:
1. Standard pollutants from cars, industry, etc. (Everyone in the central valley has a car. It is normal to do a 10 mile drive and never see a car with more than one person in it).
2. Fire. People in the central valley think burning things to be wise. They burn trash. They burn wood in their homes. They burn entire fields of crops for crop rotation. Given the amount of farmland in the area, burning ends up being very significant.
3. Remember all that farmland mentioned in point 2? You don't think that's organic farmland, do you? The vast majority of farmland in the valley is sprayed with chemicals you don't want to be around. It's even dropped from planes! Further, guess what happens to those chemicals when the owners burn their fields? Yeah.
4. Allergens. The farmland releases a lot of pollen. On top of that, people in the CV decorate their yards with hyper (not hypo) allergenic plants. Walk down a street and you'll be greeted with a cornucopia of smells ready to gag your olfactory senses. There are also horrifying fungi floating around ready to kill anyone with a weakened immune system. Try looking up San Joaquin Valley fever (Coccidioidomycosis)
Anecdotal evidence: I'm a runner. I run. Sometimes I run fast! Sometimes not. When I'm away from the CV I run about 3 miles every few days. Outside. I like running outside. When I'm in the CV I can run about half a mile outside before my body is done. My muscles are fine. The air is just that bad. Your exercise will be taking place in a gym if you want to do anything strenuous.
Poor and stupid: If you maintain low socio-economic status then you'll find you fit right in! Education is frowned upon in the central valley. Remember the words I used above such as "cornucopia" and "hypoallergenic"? The vast majority of people in the CV wouldn't know what those words mean. They could look it up in a dictionary, but won't because they neither know how nor care to. They fear education. If you have a master's degree or higher they will suspect you of being a sorcerer. Take care that you are not burned at the stake in some sort of colorful pagan ritual near the train tracks. Being mostly idiots, people in the CV make very little money. Check poverty and education levels in the area. You will be terrified.
In sum, the central valley of CA is one of the worst places in the USA you could choose to live. Aside from the significant health risks, you will be placing yourself in a population of dangerous/selfish morons who are more likely to scrape their knuckles upon the cement than work to better humanity.
What a load of exaggerated crap. I lived in Fresno. I swam a mile a day after work. Somehow my lungs survived and it was nice to actually be in a climate that made me want to get out in a pool vs. my foggy home town. No, the air isn't particularly clean in the San Joaquin Valley. Neither is it clean in Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and numerous other areas. It is better than it was 20-30 years ago though. Quite a bit better. I do agree with you about fireplace smoke in the winter. That is a irritating both figuratively and literally. As far as your remarks about the quality of the people there, that's totally subjective. There are universities in the valley and there are a good number of people with advanced degrees and professional jobs. I have a lot of family there and they are good people with good jobs and nice homes. Many people are like them and your ridiculous generalizations are insulting and speak more of your arrogance than their supposed shortcomings. There are also a lot of farm workers and those whose livelihoods depend on farming (food processing and such). If you hate such people because they aren't just like you or have the same goals and interests that sounds like a personal issue you need to address. To be frank, I'd rather live around them than someone with such an overblown sense of superiority.
What a load of exaggerated crap. I lived in Fresno. I swam a mile a day after work. Somehow my lungs survived and it was nice to actually be in a climate that made me want to get out in a pool vs. my foggy home town. No, the air isn't particularly clean in the San Joaquin Valley. Neither is it clean in Los Angeles, the Inland Empire, Houston, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Salt Lake City and numerous other areas. It is better than it was 20-30 years ago though. Quite a bit better. I do agree with you about fireplace smoke in the winter. That is a irritating both figuratively and literally. As far as your remarks about the quality of the people there, that's totally subjective. There are universities in the valley and there are a good number of people with advanced degrees and professional jobs. I have a lot of family there and they are good people with good jobs and nice homes. Many people are like them and your ridiculous generalizations are insulting and speak more of your arrogance than their supposed shortcomings. There are also a lot of farm workers and those whose livelihoods depend on farming (food processing and such). If you hate such people because they aren't just like you or have the same goals and interests that sounds like a personal issue you need to address. To be frank, I'd rather live around them than someone with such an overblown sense of superiority.
Of course it's exaggerated. Transparently so (or so I thought). Exaggeration makes for good story telling and this is the internet, not an academic journal.
No one hates farmers. No one hates *all* people in Fresno. You managing to swim a mile is certainly golf clap worthy. I applaud your achievement. You living there does not mean it is habitable, however. It means only that you have managed to survive. I myself could survive in deep space for a period of time (I think a minute or something), or in a country ruled by some maniacal tyrant.
You tell yourself that living in deep space or under a maniacal tyrant isn't so bad. Everyone else is doing it. Sometimes you're even happy! Space has a good view. The tyrant lets me eat on Thursdays. Then you experience being inside a planetary atmosphere, or living under.... not a maniacal tyrant. Then life seems better.
Since you didn't bother to look up any of the data I actually referred to, let me include it below: http://headwaterseconomics.org/profi...California.pdf (32% of people over 25 do not have high school diplomas. 9% unemployment in 2007. Imagine where it is today?)
If anyone reading this is still on the fence: Please don't live in Fresno. If I save one person from that fate then I will feel that I've done a great deed.
Tell me more about SLO...I'm in FL and have been for 30+ years. Looking to move the family somewhere that is nice year round and not as hot as it is here (95+ from May until late Sept). Honestly anything south of LA scares me.
From your post, it appears that "anything south of LA" scares you because you think the weather is too hot??
If that's correct, you should know that CA is nothing like FL in terms of weather. For example, today in San Diego I don't think it got above 65 degrees. In CA, temperature does not depend at all on latitude. It depends on whether you are near the coast, and/or how high up you are. Inland areas several hundred miles north of coastal So Cal have much hotter avg. temperatures in the summer. The Central Valley can get into the 100s during the summer, while here in San Diego, for example...it may not even hit 80. CA has many microclimates and the state is subject to wide variation in weather.
There are an unimaginable amount of pollutants in the air. For example:
1. Standard pollutants from cars, industry, etc. (Everyone in the central valley has a car. It is normal to do a 10 mile drive and never see a car with more than one person in it).
2. Fire. People in the central valley think burning things to be wise. They burn trash. They burn wood in their homes. They burn entire fields of crops for crop rotation. Given the amount of farmland in the area, burning ends up being very significant.
3. Remember all that farmland mentioned in point 2? You don't think that's organic farmland, do you? The vast majority of farmland in the valley is sprayed with chemicals you don't want to be around. It's even dropped from planes! Further, guess what happens to those chemicals when the owners burn their fields? Yeah.
4. Allergens. The farmland releases a lot of pollen. On top of that, people in the CV decorate their yards with hyper (not hypo) allergenic plants. Walk down a street and you'll be greeted with a cornucopia of smells ready to gag your olfactory senses. There are also horrifying fungi floating around ready to kill anyone with a weakened immune system. Try looking up San Joaquin Valley fever (Coccidioidomycosis)
Anecdotal evidence: I'm a runner. I run. Sometimes I run fast! Sometimes not. When I'm away from the CV I run about 3 miles every few days. Outside. I like running outside. When I'm in the CV I can run about half a mile outside before my body is done. My muscles are fine. The air is just that bad. Your exercise will be taking place in a gym if you want to do anything strenuous.
Poor and stupid: If you maintain low socio-economic status then you'll find you fit right in! Education is frowned upon in the central valley. Remember the words I used above such as "cornucopia" and "hypoallergenic"? The vast majority of people in the CV wouldn't know what those words mean. They could look it up in a dictionary, but won't because they neither know how nor care to. They fear education. If you have a master's degree or higher they will suspect you of being a sorcerer. Take care that you are not burned at the stake in some sort of colorful pagan ritual near the train tracks. Being mostly idiots, people in the CV make very little money. Check poverty and education levels in the area. You will be terrified.
In sum, the central valley of CA is one of the worst places in the USA you could choose to live. Aside from the significant health risks, you will be placing yourself in a population of dangerous/selfish morons who are more likely to scrape their knuckles upon the cement than work to better humanity.
Troll post in it's purest forms. I go to the Bay Area for work, and I can't wait to leave that rat race and go back home at the end of the day. If you run a 1/2 a mile anywhere on earth, and are tired, you sir are not a runner.
Troll post in it's purest forms. I go to the Bay Area for work, and I can't wait to leave that rat race and go back home at the end of the day. If you run a 1/2 a mile anywhere on earth, and are tired, you sir are not a runner.
Looks like its someone who also really hates Southern California or maybe they hate much of the state based on the followup post comments.
In the reply post, he/she "forgot" to mention their link said Los Angeles/Long Beach/Riverside ranked worse than Fresno in 2 out of the 3 air quality categories. Better evacuate all of Southern California!!
Educational Attainment? If someone is concerned about educational levels of people in an area they better stay away from all of Los Angeles County which has 30% of its adults without a high school diploma. http://www.city-data.com/county/Los_...County-CA.html
Heck Monterey County also has 32% of its adults without a high school diploma, better stay away from that entire area too. http://www.city-data.com/county/Monterey_County-CA.html
That poster needs to post about other areas and sound the alarm about them too.
A lot of places in SoCal and around Monterey have some benefits to them. Fresno primary benefits are that it's cheap to live here (which doesn't matter if you're one of the roughly one in five people who is unemployed), and it's close to things that aren't Fresno.
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