Who knows about Fort Bragg, CA (San Diego, Ukiah: low crime, houses, job market)

[Juiceatob]

We live in the San Diego area and have for quite some time. This area has become too congested with grumpy neighbors everywhere. It is difficult because the houses are so close and you can hear everything your neighbors say and do. We live in the beach area and love that aspect of it but not the constant feeling of having people piled on one another.
We have been through Ft. Bragg several times in our travels and it keeps calling to us. Does anyone have any info.

[digdug]

Ft. Bragg isn't a bad town. In it's heyday it was a major logging center and fishing center. It still is to some degree. But now days they really rely on tourist money.

Summers can be quite foggy and chilly, which may be agreeable to some folks. I like it myself. Winters can be rainy and cold.

I don't know your situation, but the job market isn't that hot in Ft. Bragg since it's so small and relatively isolated on the coast. Once you've done the beaches, the redwoods, the Skunk Train, the festivals, etc. there really isn't much else to do.
Mendocino is just to the south, and is extremely reliant on tourist dollars. We go up to a B&B there every few years for the quiet and restaurants. Sure I'd love to live there, but can't imagine how I'd support my family.

[Steve97415]

Digdug pretty well nailed it.
I think a lot of people overcompensate in trying to escape the pressures of urban congestion and end up relocating to areas that are rather isolated. That sounds good at first, but it's easy to "wear out" a small town after a year or two of living there. It's a long way from Fort Bragg to any sizeable city. I find the area of town five or ten miles inland (most likely east of the city limits) has a more amenable climate than the immediate coastal area of Fort Bragg/Mendocino. Despite being sparsely populated, low water availability can be a real issue in this area.

[grimstuff]

I grew up in Ukiah, the largest town in Mendocino County (an hour inland from Fort Bragg), and I knew a lot of people there on the coast. A problem I saw was a lot of depression and drinking. Its a small town - everyone knows everyone and there isn't a whole lot to do. The economy isn't great, that's for sure. It used to have a big mill and associated jobs but all that's gone now. It has an active creative community (writers/artists) so that does lend a a more intelectual feel, but there are also a lot of disenfranshised older hippies and new-age hippies searching for meaning in life, and in the meantime growing pot in thier backyard and smoking it on the street.

This might be your thing, I don't know you personally, but for me those were the downsides: typical small-town coastal grey-skies depression and SADD, a lot of drinking among the male community, and useless hippies with crackpot conspiracy theories that make all other liberals look bad.

[lovemoon]

well, grimstuff couldn't be more grim. i live in fort bragg, and i wouldn't trade it for anything. those "useless hippies" that he referred to are actually the kind, colorful everyday citizens of the mendocino coast. sure we have a few crazies, but who doesn't? and yes, there's a lot of pot smoking, but it's not in the street like some seedy(ha!) black market. it's on the beach or in the woods, and mainly in people's own houses, and most of them have medical! in fact, it may be the reason there's such low crime! fort bragg is a wonderful place to live, and we welcome all those who are kind and free-spirited.

[havasulady]

A few years ago, my husband and I visited Fort Bragg for a week. We loved it. My husband found the fog too much though. I did see several homeless young men and women and inquired about this to many people and I was told they did indeed have a homeless problem. But, all and all, we enjoyed it.

[georgiabelle]

Originally Posted by lovemoon

well, grimstuff couldn't be more grim. i live in fort bragg, and i wouldn't trade it for anything. those "useless hippies" that he referred to are actually the kind, colorful everyday citizens of the mendocino coast. sure we have a few crazies, but who doesn't? and yes, there's a lot of pot smoking, but it's not in the street like some seedy(ha!) black market. it's on the beach or in the woods, and mainly in people's own houses, and most of them have medical! in fact, it may be the reason there's such low crime! fort bragg is a wonderful place to live, and we welcome all those who are kind and free-spirited.

Thank you for your information. I'm thinking about leaving Ukiah and coming
over to the coast. I have lived in Ukiah for three years now, I'm a native
Nor. Ca. and Ukiah is just too dead for me. There isn't any entertainment like you have on the coast, (music). And of course it's too hot! 105 today.
So I look forward to coming over and I will have to get reaquainted with
the fog as it's been many years (S.F.).
Thanks again

[jerrygarciaisdead]

Let's see... where do I begun... transients everywhere... in the Safeway parking lot, roaming residential neighborhoods, hanging out in front of Denny's, ruining our beaches and state parks. Can't take my family to Glass Beach or Mendo headlands because of incidents with groups of creepy, drugged out transients. Let's be realists people, the economy is fueled by the marijuana industry. Doctors try to prescribe that crap for every little ailment. So the earlier statement about everyone smoking for medicinal purposes is a load of crap. Homeless people here get money from the city monthly to care for dogs and cats, which in turn they instead spend on dope and alcohol. So basically, the animals are in no better shape. It's like every Deadhead in America ran out of gas in Fort Bragg and stayed here on the beach. People beg for weed money outside of Safeway! The good upstanding citizens of FB need to rise up and take back our community for our children! The police need to do their job and make our community safer! They need to send the transients packing along with Mexican gangs, instead of forever idly standing by!

[thedude928]

Originally Posted by jerrygarciaisdead

Let's see... where do I begun... transients everywhere... in the Safeway parking lot, roaming residential neighborhoods, hanging out in front of Denny's, ruining our beaches and state parks. Can't take my family to Glass Beach or Mendo headlands because of incidents with groups of creepy, drugged out transients. Let's be realists people, the economy is fueled by the marijuana industry. Doctors try to prescribe that crap for every little ailment. So the earlier statement about everyone smoking for medicinal purposes is a load of crap. Homeless people here get money from the city monthly to care for dogs and cats, which in turn they instead spend on dope and alcohol. So basically, the animals are in no better shape. It's like every Deadhead in America ran out of gas in Fort Bragg and stayed here on the beach. People beg for weed money outside of Safeway! The good upstanding citizens of FB need to rise up and take back our community for our children! The police need to do their job and make our community safer! They need to send the transients packing along with Mexican gangs, instead of forever idly standing by!

It never ceases to amaze me how sick people like the gentlemen who wrote this makes me. I understand about the gang element but when you start talking about people and kids that are homeless and poor like they're criminals or like they need to be locked up. Alittle FYI. The worst of the transients are the ones from there. And alot of those rainbow kids and Neo-hippies that you see out there were wards of many states and never had any families and grew up in group or foster homes not from anything they did but things that were done to THEM. And more times than not where the state puts them is worse off than what they were taken from. Then they grow up in this crap to be put on the street by their OWN government before they are even 18. Emancipation they call it. HA! You want to blame the homeless but it's your own people who caused this. And just alittle something to think about. With just a push of a button on a computer, all these thousands and thousands of people that you hate for no reason can be rallied here(anywhere for that matter) and nothing less than the National Guard would be able to get them out. But no one wants that. YOU and people like you jerrygarciaisdead is what is wrong with the world. Pull your head out of your ass and stop hating. Some of the most intelligent people I've ever met are these "homeless" some of the happiest people I've ever met are these "homeless" If you hate your life so much, change it. Don't blame others for your unhappiness. You don't even know any of them. Believe it or not they're gonna have more to do with the future than you are.

[Bigfoot Tracks]

I thought 50statesforum.com had wacky people!!!