Help Pease Moving to !! Stockton CA (Los Angeles, San Diego: sale, apartment complexes, rentals)

[dashfan2k]

Originally Posted by jdmz76

Hi,

I'm not sure how often you check this, but I grew up in Stockton, and while it has had its negative aspects, I can say this for my hometown, it is a city that is finally growing up! The downtown has been under constant revitalization bringing leisure activities including an arena, a downtown baseball park and a new Sheraton Hotel. Cinemas and an event center are there too. Four sports teams in baseball, hockey, arena football and indoor soccer play at the downtown waterfront. Your kids, if sports fans, will love it.

I teach in the North Stockton area on occasion, and for the most part, the kids can be a little rougher than say in neighboring Lodi. If you move to North Stockton, your kids may go to Bear Creek or McNair high schools, both bad choices for education (I went to Bear Creek when it first opened, and even then it was not all that great). The Spanos Park neighborhood is where a lot of new homes are being put in, but just so you know the entire west side of Interstate 5 is flood plain. Another reader mentioned Lathrop---a few years ago it was flooded and you could only see the ridgeline of the rooftops of a few homes in the area.

Just so you know, I love Stockton....its like any big city with growth though....there are going to be problems no matter where you go. The profile of Stockton's residents is changing and has been for many years due to the influx of people from the expensive Bay Area. With this influx of more sophisticated individuals, Stockton will itself become more sophisticated.

If you want your kids to get a good high school education (you said teens), move into the Lincoln School District (like another reader posted--by Billionaire Alex Spanos); or send them to St. Mary's private high school. If any of them are in college already, Stockton has a good community college and the University of the Pacific, which is a very well known institution of higher education in the country.

I live in Sacramento (Sac) now, close to Elk Grove. A lot of people I know commute from Elk Grove to Stockton, which is closer than Sac. Elk Grove would be an ideal place for your kids where much of the city is relatively new. It will be about a 45 minute drive for you to Dameron specifically. The opportunities for education and entertainment are endless in this location due to its close proximity to Sacramento, the foothills and Tahoe/Reno.

I hope this tidbit of extra information on the surrounding area helps.

Good luck in your search. By the way....what will you be doing at Dameron?

Hay jdmz76 you ya your familiar with stockton, growing up there and all, My fiance and I are looking to buy a starter house off Laguna Circle about a mile west of I-5 off 8th street... I know south stockon is the "bad" part of stockon, but the neighborhood looks really nice, and is only about 4 blocks sout of Van Buskirk Golf Course. Is this still a bad neighborhood, anyone know?

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by dashfan2k

Hay jdmz76 you ya your familiar with stockton, growing up there and all, My fiance and I are looking to buy a starter house off Laguna Circle about a mile west of I-5 off 8th street... I know south stockon is the "bad" part of stockon, but the neighborhood looks really nice, and is only about 4 blocks sout of Van Buskirk Golf Course. Is this still a bad neighborhood, anyone know?

The map says it's just north of the golf course.. not that it matters a whole lot. It's a good area.

[resusgirl]

Thanks for the info. I have been looking at Elk Grove, I don't mind the commute.
We're not movinh over until next year so feel that I have plenty of time to plan and try and make the right choices. Might get over in the summer and have alook around before we finally move over.
The girls will be 16 and 15 when we move , Harry will be 11. So will defo need good schools.
All comments and info greatly appreciated...............thanks

[Milliano]

I have a friend that is from Stockton, just moved from there recently. She said it used to be nice, but that it's getting worse and worse - way too much violent crime. She would like her relatives to leave that town because it's too dangerous. Gangs overtaking there, that will provoke and harm innocent people (especially teenage).

Looking at city-data's top 100 lists, per crime rate, Stockton has the lowest number of police officers of all US cities.

With three teenage children, coming from the UK? It's just my opinion but I think Stockton would be a very bad choice. Are you American? Are you from the UK? If you're not from the Americas, be prepared to be in for a shock at the levels of violent crime.

[resusgirl]

Originally Posted by Milliano

I have a friend that is from Stockton, just moved from there recently. She said it used to be nice, but that it's getting worse and worse - way too much violent crime. She would like her relatives to leave that town because it's too dangerous. Gangs overtaking there, that will provoke and harm innocent people (especially teenage).

Looking at city-data's top 100 lists, per crime rate, Stockton has the lowest number of police officers of all US cities.

With three teenage children, coming from the UK? It's just my opinion but I think Stockton would be a very bad choice. Are you American? Are you from the UK? If you're not from the Americas, be prepared to be in for a shock at the levels of violent crime.

Thanks for the info, we are all English. I hear that the US has high violent crime rates but the uk isn'y all that....we have our fair share of 'knife' and ever increasingly 'gun' crime. I work as a nurse in a busy ED so have seen violent crime and it's effects, rise dramitically in the last 5 years.
I ma not coming to the us with rose tinted specs bit just need to know the facts...
I appreciate all comments and advise.. thanks

[Milliano]

Yes just so you know, the murder rate in Stockton is almost 10 times higher than England (1.6 per 100,000 compared to 12-15 per 100,000).

[Geo24]

If you can drive a short commute, please look at Lodi, 8 - 9 miles north of Stockton. No public transportation is available to speak of in Stockton (Stockton's municipal bus system ranks very low on the quality of life scale) so if you need to bus, be careful of where you live. We rented in Stockton (March Lane) and two years was way too long. The surface street traffic in Stockton is wretched, fast, rude, dangerous to pedestrians, almost impossible if you cycle. Crime and drugs and car theft and car break-ins are at a high rate all over town. The exception in Stockton would be in the area immediately within the University area (UOP) you would find charming neighborhoods right there, more pedestrian oriented. Also I agree with the post about the Lincoln village, a suburban area in the classic 60's sense, a few miles up from the center of town, it is perfectly lovely, and priced accordingly.. Stay away from any other areas at least until you see what it's like. IF you live outside Stockton note that commuter options are limited to driving (Note, the hiway 99 and 5 are treacherous even by CA standards in the Stockton area) or carpooling. Visit the website 511.org for information.

[moonrobot]

Don't move to stockton!! I grew up in Lodi (not far from stockton), becuase it was bad enough when I was born in stockton ('80s) that my parents didn't want to raise me there.

I've recently moved to New York...I feel safer walking around here at night then I ever did in Stockton.

Any of the smaller towns is better to live in, and just go to Stockton for work or shopping. Elk Grove is also good....better schools. I used to work at Lincoln High in Stockton...teachers were leaving to work at Elk Grove schools because of the higher pay and better funding.

It's not so much the people in Stockon, but the lack of police and community service orgs. If you want culture, plan on going out of the county for anything fun to do.

[DMenscha]

I don't think anyone is doing you a favor by bad mouthing Stockton. It has some nice places to live and if things were as bad as all these people say, the place would be a ghost town.

[sonarrat]

Originally Posted by Geo24

(Note, the hiway 99 and 5 are treacherous even by CA standards in the Stockton area) or carpooling. Visit the website 511.org for information.

Is 5 really that bad in Stockton? The few times I went there (yep, during rush hour too), it seemed to me that once I got off of the 205, it was good from there. Is it one of those inland fog centrals I hear so much about?