Blue Lake, CA (Los Angeles, Glendale, Eureka: hotel, house, crime)

[TribalCat]

I was looking at the statistics for Blue Lake (near Eureka in NoCal), and I was shocked to see the crime index was over TWICE the national average! As of 2005 the town had 1100 or so people living there, and for all of the years before 2005, the crime statistics had been either just below or WAY below the national average. In 2005, it skyrocketed to over twice as high. What happened in 2005? Does anyone know if it has gone back down again, or is it still this high? Did drugs suddenly hit the town? Other than that, it looks like a really cute town.

[EscapeCalifornia]

Which statistics exactly? If you're looking at per capita numbers, a town size of that can give very misleading statistics.

[Ben_Hooper]

I saw the crime statistics for Blue Lake, my guess is that an error has taken place when calculating.
If not to go from an average crime rating of 77.0 - 674.5 is strange. What would have caused it. Blue Lake hasn't become a party town with teens coming over at weekends to get drunk and use the lake have they (its happened to Lake Havasu city). Other than that i have no idea. sorry

77.0 would make it the U.S's safest city in 2001!

674.5 is much worse than Los Angeles (408.0) or Chicago (610.0)

[Woof]

It's just a tiny little village, probably one murder would have sent the rate soaring. And if I remember correctly, it doesn't even have a lake, they ought to be sued for false advertising.

[TheDragonslayer]

Blue Lake does not have a lake anymore, it was a body of water left after one of the floods on the Mad River back in the late 1800's and it dissapeared sometime after the 20's if I remember correctly. Blue Lake has a casino and that may have affected the crime rating. Blue Lake is about 5 miles inland from Arcata and McKinleyville and does not have a strong economy at all. It is anywhere from 10 to 30 degrees warmer than here on the coast and it is often right at the fog line between the interior heat and the coastal cool. The crime rate is indeed higher than Eureka, Arcata and McKinleyville and Mck and Arcata are the lowest in the Humboldt bay region except for Trinidad.

[Woof]

And Trinidad doesn't really count because it's just for rich people, who don't need to commit crimes. What a gorgeous view there though, definitely one of my top choices when I become wealthy.

[TheDragonslayer]

You are right about Trinidad, Woof, it is a dinky rich town, I don't think there are 300 people there and they have a police department. The Che-Re heights Indian Casino pulls in the traffic as does the Blue Lake casino for Blue Lake. Trinidad is gorgeous though, a super mini Carmel. Home prices in Trinidad are twice county average. McKinleyville is the fastest growing town and has the most available homes, Arcata is the home of Humboldt State U and Eureka is just a melting pot of out of towners, ex loggers and fishermen, but it has almost 75% of the shopping prospects for the area. Other towns here are Samoa, Freshwater, Bayside, Fortuna, Ferndale, Loleta, Glendale and a sprinkling of smaller towns, now the largest of the above is Eureka at 28,000 and Arcata and McKinleyville at the 16,000 mark, the rest are in the 500 and up to say 8,000 or so. There are only a little over 120,000 people in the county.

[justrusty]

I would like to give my take on the crime problem.

I have been here for 23 years now and grew up in Los Angeles (where I have seen lots of crime).
Blue Lake is a small, quite little town where everyone pretty much knows each other and most people still don't worry about locking their cars, homes or leaving things out in the yard.

In 2002 the Casino opened up (which is when the crime statistics went up) it is located at the entrance to town and most of the bad apples and drugies that it attracts don't even come in to town as far as I can tell.

So my guess is that if the crime statistics are accurate it must be happening around the casino cause in town I only see friendly people and at night you can hear a pen drop. I know I feel totally safe and so does every one I know. So If anyone would like to know more about Blue lake without actually visiting the town you can go to City of Blue Lake : Where Sunshine & Sea Air Meet and take a look around.

[NorthernCalifornia]

Blue Lake is a small town. There is no random crime to worry about. Place is too small to even worry about someone burglarizing your house or car. Also, every crime in the city probably ended up in those stats, unlike what happens in large cities with pressures on the PD to keep the numbers down.

As for the Lake, it's an underground aquifer. It supplies the area's water, which is the best you'll ever drink out of a tap. Evian has nothing on tap water in Eureka, CA.

[justrusty]

O.K. here's the real deal on the lake.

The lake for which Blue Lake is named was formed in the 1860's during a winter flood of the Mad River.
At one time the lake was the center of town. It was a resort with a hotel and dance floor on the shores. It was also used for fishing and for romantic boat rides in the springtime. It is now a small pond on private property, almost disappearing entirely in the dry summer months.

Recently there has been an interest in bringing the lake back to it's former resort status.
I hope this clears up a few misconceptions about the lake although I think TheDragonSlayer had most of it right.