I have a job offer in Eureka but I am concerened abour raising my family there. (Arcata: low income, best city)
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Thanks nmnita for the perspective. We have discussed the weather as an issue and that remains a concern (one gets incredibly spoiled with the nice weather in So-Cal). We do understand the depressed economic situation somewhat. But neither my wife nor I are big on fancy cars or name brands and we'd love to raise our kids with a similar attitude. My wife is now a stay-at-home mom (ex-school teacher) so we are used to not spending on expensive entertainment and shopping. Both are luxuries that we can and do live without.
I think we are mostly sold on the idea of making the move. If it doesn't work out in a couple of years, well then we move again. We wouldn't be the first family to do so and our kids are still young enough to take the risk.
Thanks all for the responses.
good luck, as I have said, for many, Humboldt county is heaven and yes, you can always re-locate. The bit about not being into the name brands, etc is one of the pluses we found as I mentioned. The depressed area was probably the worst part of our time there.
Keep us posted and enjoy your new experience.
One positive thing: there are some awesome old victorian homes in Eureka. We rented one until we bought. It was huge and lots of fun for the kids.
I have a nice job offer in Eureka with the USFS but I also have two young children (ages 2 & 5). I have many concerns about whether I should relocate from Southern California and take this job. (I am originally from Michigan so I am used to dreary and colder weather).
I have read the archived threads about the Eureka area (McKinleyville, Fortuna, Aracata) and I am concerned about moving my family there.
1) I am okay with the pot culture as long as it doesn't interfere with daily life. To each there own.
2) I am concerned about the otherwise depressed economy and is it a nice place to raise a family?
3) I have often believed that it is not WHERE you raise your children but HOW you raise them. That said, I don't want to regret my decision since we are leaving a nice home in the So-Cal burbs with good schools and low crime rates (in our neck of the palms).
4) I am also concerned about medical care and schools.
Your thoughts and feedback are greatly appreciated!
The town of McKinleyville is booming and has been for at least 15 years now. We have the largest Kmart and Safeway in the county and the largest theater with nine screens. Northern Humboldt School District has been ranked as one of the top five school districts in the state. The school district just got a bond passed for over $25 million dollars for improvements and upgrades. There is a lot less crime and homeless in McKinleyville too. There are many new subdivisions still going in and talk of a public swimming pool near the theater. There are many public paved trails crossing town with all subdivisions being required to add to the trail network. There is a nice new sports complex at Hiller park that has the Hammond coastal trail going through it. McKinleyville is boring in that there are few victorians or craftsman homes here, unlike Eureka and Arcata, both of which have beautiful examples of a broad range of architectural styles. Eureka is too busy for me, but the mall and the specialty stores are there. Arcata is too compact and always crowded with the student crowd. McK is a quiet bedroom community for those that work in Arcata, Eureka and Fortuna. McKinleyville above Central Avenue can be warm and sunny in the low 70's while lower McKinleyville below highway 101, which is where I live, can be much cooler and covered in fog at the same time. Just two miles in from the coast and it can be 15 to 20 degrees warmer in the summer. Eureka has St. Joes hospital and Arcata has Mad River hospital. I believe Fortuna has a hospital too.
My wife and I had considered Humboldt County as a possible retirement venue. Unfortunately, she's prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) so the rain and overcast would not have been a good mix. However, we love the north coast and the forests and while Eureka does have its seedy side, it could be a great place for you.
My wife and I had considered Humboldt County as a possible retirement venue. Unfortunately, she's prone to Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) so the rain and overcast would not have been a good mix. However, we love the north coast and the forests and while Eureka does have its seedy side, it could be a great place for you.
SAD is quite common here. I know many that do not really stay here during our wet winters. I believe one of our highest suicide years was during the winter of 94 to 95 when it started raining on the 1st of December of 94 and rained every day through to the end of January of 95 and the 1st of February rang in clear and cold and was a dry month. I lived in the Garberville area between the towns of Redway and Sheltercove. I lived high in the hills and we got 94 inches of rain in those two months and that years total was 141 inches. Petrolia nearer to the coast got 224 inches that year. Normal for the Eureka to McKinleyville area is between 42 and 60 inches a year, 42 on a dry year, though we had a low of 37 inches in the past 10 years and a high of 75 inches last year. Eureka does have a few seedy sides, but it has some of the most beautiful victorian and craftsman homes that I have ever seen. I am a gardener here and many of my clients have retired here from the S F bay area or the Los Angeles area, many of them also work for the Humboldt State University in Arcata.
SAD is quite common here. I know many that do not really stay here during our wet winters. I believe one of our highest suicide years was during the winter of 94 to 95 when it started raining on the 1st of December of 94 and rained every day through to the end of January of 95 and the 1st of February rang in clear and cold and was a dry month. I lived in the Garberville area between the towns of Redway and Sheltercove. I lived high in the hills and we got 94 inches of rain in those two months and that years total was 141 inches. Petrolia nearer to the coast got 224 inches that year. Normal for the Eureka to McKinleyville area is between 42 and 60 inches a year, 42 on a dry year, though we had a low of 37 inches in the past 10 years and a high of 75 inches last year. Eureka does have a few seedy sides, but it has some of the most beautiful victorian and craftsman homes that I have ever seen. I am a gardener here and many of my clients have retired here from the S F bay area or the Los Angeles area, many of them also work for the Humboldt State University in Arcata.
Our average rainfall in a year is about 43" but it's pretty evenly distributed throughout the year. November is usually the wettest month with just under 5". This year has been rather dry with a bit less than 30" so far.
There are decidedly some beautiful homes in Eureka and but for the amount of overcast, fog and rain it would have been a great area to retire.
My wife and I moved to Eureka in 1990 from Westminster, California. We chose Eureka because it reminded us of where we grew up in the rust belt ... Worcester, Massachusetts (on a smaller scale).
We raised our family in Southern California (1970 - 1990) and moved out of the crowded southland once the children were grown and on their own. We have enjoyed our 20 years here and are now moving (retiring to Gainesville, Florida) closer to a child and grandchildren. We could go back to Southern California but can no longer afford it and wouldn't want to back into the crush of humanity that we so happily left 20 years ago. We lived near Little Saigon before there was a Little Saigon and when the Westminster schools didn't have razor wire around them.
The reason I am telling you all this is because I believe you deserve to know if the person you are talking to knows what they are about. I am a Real Estate Broker who has done what you are doing only 20 years ago. I can answer all your questions and do not want to be your Broker. I am retired, am leaving and have no vested interest in lying to you.
Everywhere has good and bad in it. I am offering to help you decide where to buy a home and raise your family based on the lifestyle you are looking for.
Fortuna is warmer and appeals to the blue collar person.
Eureka is wet and foggy and appeals to the white collar medical and legal types ... it also has more than its share of users abusers and welfare recipients but depending on where you choose to live it could affect your family.
McKinleyville is Orange County North.
Arcata is a college town in all senses of that phrase.
There are good folks up here and we will miss them but there is no real night life. There are not a thousand restaurants to choose from but those we have are mostly excellent. A good place for hunters, fishermen, homebodys and plain folk. A nice place to raise a family just chose the right home, in the right location, near the right schools, to live in.
If you want specific answers to specific questions email me
[email]Broker@SloneRealty.com[/email]
Last edited by Dean Slone; 12-12-2010 at 06:56 PM..
Reason: misstyped some things
I am so tired of people hacking on teachers. They are a bunch of underpaid overworked people dedicated to making this world a better place and no group in America gets attacked more.
I think of teachers as rather like the dutch boy with his finger in the ****, teachers work hard to hold back the forces of darkness, and what thanks do they get? Attacked for scurrilous reasons.
I don't know why anyone goes into teaching now. Between the right-wing, helicopter parents and the right-wing billionaires trying to privatize schools, it's a losers' game.
Public schools and public school teachers made America great. Let's see how the detractors do without them when they are gone.
I don't know why anyone goes into teaching now. Between the right-wing, helicopter parents and the right-wing billionaires trying to privatize schools, it's a losers' game.
Public schools and public school teachers made America great. Let's see how the detractors do without them when they are gone.
I think you might want to look at the public school system before you talk about the right wingers. You can't privatize public schools, you can offer alternatives. I know of two young people who did not go into education after getting their certification: the reason, in both cases? The liberal educational system. I know of a principal in OC, believe it or not that used to be left of center. She is so fed up with the liberal public schools that if she wasn't past her prime she would change fields. I am not quite sure what you are talking about or where you are getting your information.
Nita
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