Various CA cities. Job oppertunity. Good places to live? (Los Angeles: crimes, neighborhood)

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by Adriatica

You could take the Fresno job and live in Clovis. Good schools, nice town, and low cost of living. Northeast Fresno is also a nice place to live and lies within the Clovis Unified School District.

This is exactly what I was going to write after reading all the posts.

I personally like a bigger town - not an urban city, but just a bigger town with more to do, more shopping, etc.

Fresno is in a great location, if you have to be inland. Close to national parks, it has a university, close to drive to coast (about 2 1/2 hours to Monterey), just a few hours away from San Francisco, you could go to Disneyland for a weekend (about 4 hours away). Fresno also has an airport.

I looked at moving to Fresno and was there recently, and thought I could live there happily. It gets hotter in the summer there than I'm used to here in Santa Clara, but it's cheaper and has lots of shopping, and stuff to do. I may still end up there.

I've read on this forum that Clovis is the area to move to.

I don't really know the other areas you'd listed. But, from what I do know, I say pick Fresno, and live in Clovis. You can always drive to the snow in the national forest :-)

Meetups near Fresno, California - Meetup

[the city]

Originally Posted by NannerOJMH

Hi

My husband has the chance to apply for a job in the following cities:

Merced, California avoid
Bakersfield, California avoid
Mammoth Lakes, California avoid, too rural
Inyokern, California avoid, too rural
Visalia, CA avoid
Fresno, CA avoid
Santa Ana OC has an expanding economy. Part of the city is good and other parts r gang infested, but nice areas like the Santa Ana Hills are good and nearby. Weather is good. This is the one I'd pick. The rest of the options are in the "armpit" of CA which has alot of crime, smog, and hot weather. Visalia and Modesto I hear are the nicest cities in the central valley to live in, I don't consider Sac to be in the central valley.

Any YES? Any HECK NO? Any anything?

Have a middle school aged daughter so that is a consideration both for schools and other kid type things (drugs, gangs etc). Air quality (understand some of these aren't so great), schools, safety, crime etc obviously are all things we're looking at. Commute is fine as long as it's not toooo long or horrible. We're from nowhere small(ish) town midwest America but have lived in a large city in the past. (Orlando....before parenthood)

Any info or opinions welcome!

Thanks!

read abaove.

[eccotecc]

The availability of jobs would depend on your husband's skills. I would strongly suggest Merced to relocate to for several reasons. Merced has a new hospital that has job opportunities. UC Merced is hiring and will continue to do so for many years to come. The temperature in Merced is cooler than Fresno by several degrees. Merced is very bike friendly with many miles of paved bike paths. Merced is a very walkable community. It is closer to the coast and San Francisco Bay Area by an hour. The historical community of Mariposa is 45 minutes away. The drive to Yosemite is much more scenic with less traffic. Merced doesn't have the traffic congestion Fresno has. Merced has many beautiful and well cared for neighborhoods. The real estate prices are very reasonable compared to other places in California. Merced has a mall for shopping along with the traditional box stores like walmart and costco. The drug and gang situation is no worse than other communities and you probably wouldn't be living in those areas. There are plenty of activities for children through parks and rec. and Merced Junior College. I would suggest you visit Merced and not judge it from what it looks like from the freeway. BTW... There is great fishing within 20 minutes of the city.

[Roaddog]

Originally Posted by NannerOJMH

Hi

My husband has the chance to apply for a job in the following cities:

Merced, California
Bakersfield, California
Mammoth Lakes, California
Inyokern, California
Visalia, CA
Fresno, CA
Santa Ana

Any YES? Any HECK NO? Any anything?

Have a middle school aged daughter so that is a consideration both for schools and other kid type things (drugs, gangs etc). Air quality (understand some of these aren't so great), schools, safety, crime etc obviously are all things we're looking at. Commute is fine as long as it's not toooo long or horrible. We're from nowhere small(ish) town midwest America but have lived in a large city in the past. (Orlando....before parenthood)

Any info or opinions welcome!

Thanks!

I would suggest taking a trip and checking these places out for yourself and not depending on others opinions. everybody has different likes and dislikes.

[Malloric]

Income?

If making $100k or so, Santa Ana. Santa Ana itself isn't that nice, but nicer than garbage grove. But there nice (but $$$) areas around it. Fresno has Clovis. It's nowhereville, sure, but it beats living in a barrio of LA which is what you'll get for the same money. It has good schools, low crime, etc. Mammoth Lakes is a resort town. It's very nice. Inyokern is in the Mojava Desert just outside of Ridgecrest. Interesting area, fun to pass through, don't know that I'd want to live there.

[yabadabadooo]

I'd say Santa Ana, but I've only visited once, and that out of only 3 of the others I've visited.

[ImtheBrilliantest]

I'd say taking a job in Santa Ana, but living somewhere else. I'd also consider Mammoth Lakes...As for the others..I'd avoid at all costs.

[PookieRay]

I grew up here in Ridgecrest and I can answer any questions, I love it here as much as I hate it here. It is sunny here almost always and in the middle of November I'm still wearing shorts and sandals. Winter is just starting to arrive and that means cold nights and waking up to frozen gutters. It snows here like every 4 years and schools close down for safety concerns regarding driving and the up to 2 inches of snow we do get but it melts by the next day. Christmas here is 99% of the time warm an sunny and I never knew kids didn't get to ride their new bikes around the neighborhood until I moved to Wisconsin. Global warming has caused chaos out here and we are really starting to notice the 110 degree summers and low humidity compared to 20 years ago when 121 with no humidity was common July to September. The most amazing thing out here is our clear skies and at night time the stars are amazing. Oh, the days after when we have a rainy year, rarely rains here, but when it does you see the world around you come alive! The desert suddenly bursts with bright colors, these little flowers come out of no where covering some areas with color and others with nothing. Plants sprout, bugs flourish, animals of the desert have a more young that survive. Just beautiful. Los Angeles, Ontario and Bakersfield are all 2 hours away. Palm Springs and Las Vegas 3 hours (Vegas might be a little over 3 for most, I drive 80) Mammoth is 3 hours away heading north on 395 and keep going another 3 hours from there and your in Reno. Small town for the most part Night Clubs don't have but they turned an old bowling alley into a bar with a dance floor and named it STD's. It is in the center of town and will not let you down for drunken drama and fights, oops, wrong name, its Tommy T's. I suggest you ask Google about Ridgecrest, Ca Crimes. You might have heard Mark from Blink 182 is from here, Mick Marrs from Motley Crue had/has a brother who live(d)(s) here who worked/works for CHP. Rebekka Armstrong Septembers 1986 Playboy Playmate grew up here. The Taco Bell with the taco licking story is ours. The naval base here is the largest piece of land the navy has and they build things here that the world knows our product just not the creators; Sidewinder missile, Bunker Busters, and glow sticks were invented(accidentally I think) here. Go to Kern County Superior Court and click the Criminal tab and find the court locations and then go day by day for at least 2 weeks. Best way to find out about a city is by why are people there going to court for.

[Cheektowaga_Chester]

Originally Posted by PookieRay

I grew up here in Ridgecrest and I can answer any questions, I love it here as much as I hate it here. It is sunny here almost always and in the middle of November I'm still wearing shorts and sandals. Winter is just starting to arrive and that means cold nights and waking up to frozen gutters. It snows here like every 4 years and schools close down for safety concerns regarding driving and the up to 2 inches of snow we do get but it melts by the next day. Christmas here is 99% of the time warm an sunny and I never knew kids didn't get to ride their new bikes around the neighborhood until I moved to Wisconsin. Global warming has caused chaos out here and we are really starting to notice the 110 degree summers and low humidity compared to 20 years ago when 121 with no humidity was common July to September. The most amazing thing out here is our clear skies and at night time the stars are amazing. Oh, the days after when we have a rainy year, rarely rains here, but when it does you see the world around you come alive! The desert suddenly bursts with bright colors, these little flowers come out of no where covering some areas with color and others with nothing. Plants sprout, bugs flourish, animals of the desert have a more young that survive. Just beautiful. Los Angeles, Ontario and Bakersfield are all 2 hours away. Palm Springs and Las Vegas 3 hours (Vegas might be a little over 3 for most, I drive 80) Mammoth is 3 hours away heading north on 395 and keep going another 3 hours from there and your in Reno. Small town for the most part Night Clubs don't have but they turned an old bowling alley into a bar with a dance floor and named it STD's. It is in the center of town and will not let you down for drunken drama and fights, oops, wrong name, its Tommy T's. I suggest you ask Google about Ridgecrest, Ca Crimes. You might have heard Mark from Blink 182 is from here, Mick Marrs from Motley Crue had/has a brother who live(d)(s) here who worked/works for CHP. Rebekka Armstrong Septembers 1986 Playboy Playmate grew up here. The Taco Bell with the taco licking story is ours. The naval base here is the largest piece of land the navy has and they build things here that the world knows our product just not the creators; Sidewinder missile, Bunker Busters, and glow sticks were invented(accidentally I think) here. Go to Kern County Superior Court and click the Criminal tab and find the court locations and then go day by day for at least 2 weeks. Best way to find out about a city is by why are people there going to court for.

OK, we can cross Ridgecrest off the list.

I occasionally spent some time on China Lake NAS. All I can say is Ridgecrest is a nice place to visit but...

[FreedomBelle]

Originally Posted by Adriatica

You could take the Fresno job and live in Clovis. Good schools, nice town, and low cost of living. Northeast Fresno is also a nice place to live and lies within the Clovis Unified School District.

Clovis has the same bad air as Fresno. To get a sense of how the air compares to other places where you have lived and how the air quality might affect you, check out "Air Compare" from the EPA: Air Compare | AIRNow | US EPA.

Although the district's generally high socioeconomic status keeps most of its schools well-rated, my limited experience has been that CUSD doesn't compare well to the well-regarded public elementary schools that I'm familiar with in the midwest and east. (My sense, however, is that the upper grades get more resources and may be better than the elementary schools.) If you're coming from a good district in the midwest, you may find the schools lacking if you are looking for a good academic program for a K-6 child. If this is important, do everything you can to investigate schools while they are in session so you get a reasonable chance of accurately determining whether it will be a good fit for your kid.

Good luck deciding!