salton city (Irvine, Orange, Lakewood: real estate, low crime, how much)

[volare6]

Anyone have any opinions about 29 palms, salton sea area? I am a single mother with 2 kids. thanks

[Twinkle Toes]

Yeah ... DON'T DO IT!!!!!

[Twinkle Toes]

First of all, 29 Palms is not near Salton City. 29 Palms is out in the Yucca Valley area and is a military town. Salton City is one of the cities along the Salton Sea out past Indio and Coachella going toward Brawley and El Centro. I can't speak for 29 Palms so much, but I do know about Salton City. It literally REEKS! The sea stinks to high heaven and when they have a fish die-off, it'a in the 10's of millions of fish and it creates a stench that we can smell throughout the valley - and I live 30 miles away in Palm Desert! Salton City is also known as a place where all the tweekers go to set up their labs. It's dirty and stinky and not a good place to raise your kids no matter how much hype the real estate professionals try to sell you - and I am one of those real estate professionals!!!

[chester's]

I live in Rancho Mirage, I'd guess about 45 miles from Salton Sea. Even if there were great schools,low crime and plentiful jobs,Really, it stinks beyond belief. People living near there must get used to it eventually, but do you really want to? It's way worse than living in the middle of a dairy farm. I'm not a fan of CA as a whole, but there are much better places.

[jimhcom]

Salton City is having a crime wave at the present time,mostly burglaries, 1 to 2 a day in some nieghborhoods. The residents live in fear, and the Sheriffs are either unwilling or unable to do anything. The Imperial County Sheriffs Department is one of the most inept law enforcement agencies you could even imagine. Don't move there unless you want to be a victim.

[dennismpat]

Originally Posted by jimhcom

Salton City is having a crime wave at the present time,mostly burglaries, 1 to 2 a day in some nieghborhoods. The residents live in fear, and the Sheriffs are either unwilling or unable to do anything. The Imperial County Sheriffs Department is one of the most inept law enforcement agencies you could even imagine. Don't move there unless you want to be a victim.

Imperial County seems to be one of those forgotten areas of Southern California. I have a friend and former co-worker of Mexican descent whose parents are from Calexico, which is on the international border with Mexico (the Mexican side of the city is named Mexicali). My friend and her family (she lives in Orange County, in Irvine) went to visit Calexico sometime within the last two years. She said that Calexico is about 95% Mexican, and one hears Spanish spoken more than English. As a matter of fact, they stopped to have lunch at a Chinese restaurant there run by a Chinese family, and they were speaking to the customers in fluent Spanish!

Even with a lot of new housing being built (and "affordable" by California standards), the area is basically in the middle of the desert, is economically depressed and there isn't much to see and do over there. El Centro is located a little ways to the north of Calexico, and I've heard it described as a real "hell hole"!

[Screenial]

I've lived in 29 Palms before. The male to female ratio is 16/1, so no problems if you want to date. Of course, you better like Marines
It's a very cheap place too live, but good luck finding a job, they don't exist. The military spouses have hiring preference on base, and the rest of the avialable jobs are minimum wage. I had to resort to driving down the hill into Palm Springs, and that's an hour plus drive.
The schools seemed underfunded and limping to get by. I found the community filled with a varity of people, Marines, desert rats, artists looking to get away from the rat-race of LA, meth-heads. You name it, it's there. A good town to be just yourself. I actually liked it in 29 Palms, I would have stayed if I had found a decent job.

[Twinkle Toes]

Yeah but what El Centro has going for it is the Blue Angels!

[dennismpat]

Originally Posted by Twinkle Toes

Yeah but what El Centro has going for it is the Blue Angels!

Oh, I didn't know that. So they're based out of El Centro?

[Twinkle Toes]

Yep. The Blue Angels train at El Centro October through May and they put on their air show out there as well. I think they already had their air show this year though.

My son and I just went to the Lackland AFB Airfest today (San Antonio, TX) and it was AWESOME!!!!! It was the Thunderbirds and a bunch of WWII aircraft as well as modern day jets that break the sound barrier. They had a re-enactment of the Pearl Harbor bombing that was really neat and thought provoking. I got here (to Texas) just in the nick of time, otherwise I would have missed this awesome show! BTW, I used to live in Lakewood back in the 80's (my favorite decade - like totally!) The show today was an all day event and it was packed with shows and flight demos all day long, so there weren't any times when you would be bored and want to go home. It was non-stop action all day! I can't wait to see it again. Well, they will have it again tomorrow, but I have other things to do tomorrow.