Pros vs. Cons of moving to Salinas. Help Please (San Francisco: violent crime, neighborhoods)

[Californiagreengal]

Originally Posted by Ragnar

Thanks for giving us the update, Californiagreengal. Glad you a diggin' Salinas. Salinas was not really someplace in the Monterey area that I was interested in checking out until I read your post. I will definitely need to visit next time I am in the area.

Where do typically you go to visit the Pacific Ocean, and how long does it take to get there? Marina State Beach seems a fairly direct drive from Salinas.

Marina seems to be closest about 7 or 9 miles from Reservation Road off 68 or if you want the harbor, seafood and all the shops, go to Monterey, not much farther if you go all way down 68.

@Derek, yep Las Palmas . Great Neighborhood .

[guignol]

[SIZE=2]i'm very late, but as a salinas native i can't help wanting to share!

Originally Posted by Hawk J

Salinas was pretty nice when it had a population of about 24,000.
Central Park
YMCA
Mel's drive-in restaurant
Smalley's Roundup
Sheriff's Posse grounds
Rodeo grounds
Indoor pool area
Toro Park
Skyview drive-in
Salinas auto movies
Firestone Tire Co
Hartnell College
Steinbeck House

well, the sign at the city limits already said 35,000 when I was growing up in the early 60's... toro park, the indoor pool, the steinbeck house all came much after that period, and the roundup has changed names a couple of times and location once since those days. in short, Salinas stayed nice much longer than that, and though i now live far, far away i always enjoy going back, so it's still pretty nice imo!

Originally Posted by Chinga

Whatever you do, stay AWAY from Salinas, Its a crime infested area. I left the Monterey area 7 years ago and still have friends there.. its just as bad. Seaside is the same way.. filthy and full of crime. A while back Salinas was having multiple drive by gangland style shootings a NIGHT.

this is only somewhat exagerrated; there is a HUGE gang problem these days; in fact salinas has always had a crime problem, probably going back to post WWII. it's gotten worse but that you can say for just about anywhere. and despite what you can read elsewhere on this forum there are parts of town as safe as anywhere you're coming from in the states. to (oversimplify) stay south of the tracks and west of the alisal underpass and you should be OK. stay out of all parks after dark, but i defy you to name a town in CA where that's not sound advice.

most of the neighborhoods in south salinas are quiet, shady, basically nice places to live.

Originally Posted by Chinga

[...] Monterey was ok.. but way way way overpriced [...] Carmel forget, not worth it.. too expensive, lots of tourists, and quite frankly boring as all get out. King city was nice.. but its kind of far out there.. as is Greenfield. Prunedale was pretty nice.. and a whole lot safer than Salinas.

the monterey peninsula is indeed very nice (the nicest bit, pacific grove, paradoxically was a real crime hole in the 70's)... and wildly expensive. don't mistake places up the coast (seaside, marina etc.) for the peninsula, they are nearly as unsavory as the bad parts of salinas. localities up 101 (prunedale, san miguel canyon) have very tedious and DANGEROUS traffic problems. they're remote and very short on amenities. those down 101 (gonzales, soledad, king city) are even worse in that they are very hot in summer and have their own gang and poverty problems... forget good schools: these communities are having trouble these days keeping their schools open at all.

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

Hm, if you have no children you don't have schools to worry about. So that's good. Since you are driving kind of far to Soledad I would look next to Salinas in places like Toro Park, Spreckles, Las Palmas, Indian Springs, and possibly Prunedale or Marina. I know many people who don't want to live in Salinas proper but live on the outskirts. They also shop on the outskirts at places like Nob Hill in South Salinas.

for commuting to soledad, spreckels, las palmas, indian springs are all sound advice. Toro less so: you'll catch a few miles of traffic from hell before you get headed in the right direction. prunedale, marina, you might as well live on the moon!

Originally Posted by georgste

I even found the commute from Salinas to the peninsula bothersome. Live or rent in a town close to Soledad. Too many cholos in Salinas.

what to say about this comment? the salinas/MP commute is indeed hell on earth but that's because there are only two ways to go: the narrow hwy68 corridor or around the horn via marina, neither direct and both crammed to well over double their optimal capacity at rush hour. as for "cholos" soledad would be just about the epicenter of that phenomenon.

[/SIZE]

[guignol]

Originally Posted by Ragnar

Thanks for giving us the update, Californiagreengal. Glad you a diggin' Salinas. Salinas was not really someplace in the Monterey area that I was interested in checking out until I read your post. I will definitely need to visit next time I am in the area.

Where do typically you go to visit the Pacific Ocean, and how long does it take to get there? Marina State Beach seems a fairly direct drive from Salinas.

the ocean? it's about the worst drive of all, so by all means don't go to lover's point. (we in the know like to save that little corner of paradise for ourselves ).

[PlasticSurgion831]

Salinas is SOOOOO NOOOTTT Dangerous people r crazy if they think it is a go waling every NITE and on the EAST SIDE wich is so called the worst side of salinas nothing will happen to you if you dont were red or blue SALINAS IS SAFE trust me i lived here my WHOLE LIFE 45 YEARS people that say salinas is dangouers ar haters to Salinas!!!!

[1ginacolada]

It's hard to hear the Salinas bashing but my guess is it comes from people who are too narrow minded to actually spend some time in the area...

I grew up in the safest neighborhood in Marina.

As an adult, after a lot of research, I decided to buy a brand new home in North Salinas. The reason we chose Salinas was that we could get a much bigger and brand new house in Salinas than if we bought in Monterey. I didn't want to cram my husband and daughter into a 1000 square foot, 70 year old home for the same price that i got a 3,000 square foot, brand spanking new, I saw it constructed from the ground up home.

It's been three years and I still love our home and neighborhood. Our neighbors are the following: a doctor, a couple nurses, a government (department of defense) worker, a sheriff, a business owner. There are a lot of families and young kids. I am white. My neighbors are asian, mexican, philipino and white. By the way, we know our neighbors and go to their houses often so the kids can play.

The only crime I have experienced was one rainy night, I left my door of my car unlocked and open and someone stole my GPS.

I jog around my neighborhood and our nearby park often, take my daughter to the park and feel safe on my street.

I realize there is plenty of crime and gang activity in East Salinas especially, but from what I can see, they are not prevalent in my neighborhood.

If you are interested in Salinas, don't let all the hearsay from people who have never lived here dissuade you. There are some great areas - obviously south salinas but also some north salinas and creekbridge areas.

[mstnghu2]

Originally Posted by PlasticSurgion831

Salinas is SOOOOO NOOOTTT Dangerous people r crazy if they think it is a go waling every NITE and on the EAST SIDE wich is so called the worst side of salinas nothing will happen to you if you dont were red or blue SALINAS IS SAFE trust me i lived here my WHOLE LIFE 45 YEARS people that say salinas is dangouers ar haters to Salinas!!!!

Apparently decent grammar is not required to become a plastic surgeon.

[roadwarrior101]

Originally Posted by 1ginacolada

It's hard to hear the Salinas bashing but my guess is it comes from people who are too narrow minded to actually spend some time in the area...

I grew up in Salinas and while I agree that not all of the city is crime ridden, I'd have to say that most of the other things people have listed are true.

[MtnSurfer]

Yeah, I don't see all of Salinas as bad per se. In fact we have a number friends who live there. And our kids go to one the parks near their house to play. Never have they felt unsafe. However that doesn't mean there aren't real crime issues to be aware of, especially more prevalent in certain parts.

Also the schools aren't rated very highly for families with school age children. However some choose to send their kids to private schools while others we know homeschool. So there are other options. And for those willing to shop for housing in Salinas prices are at all times lows right now after the RE crash. I recommend anyone renting first to make sure they are comfortable with the area. While some are ok with it there those who I know who have lived in Salinas and are not. So they were willing to buy a smaller home for more in another area. One I know bought a home in Las Palmas after living in Salinas with his family. The other in Spreckles. In Monterey it really comes down to individual preferences. Just because ppl decide not to live there doesn't mean they hate Salinas in the same way some prefer not to live in Prunedale or Watsonville. Its just nor for everyone when all things are considered.

Derek

[onlymike]

Just a thought why don't you consider Spreckels very nice quiet community just west of Salinas off hwy 68. If you need something from the store you can go 5 minutes to south salinas or about 15 minutes to Marina or 15-20 minutes to Monterey Very quiet town.

[pandaundercover]

Hah, I agree with everyone else... Salinas is crazy. Really ridden with low income mexicans who like to do nothing but commit crimes. Same for Seaside. However, my husband and I did some political campaigning out there 4 years ago, and the southwest end of it isn't that bad (near Blanco and Davis). My husbands Grandma lived in the newer communities near the Nativdad hospital, and it was pretty nice. Really suburban, but if I had to choose to move into a house in Salinas, i would attempt to get into one in one of the neighbors near those areas I mentioned above.

Monterey isn't horrible, but it is expensive. But with expensive homes and rich people around you, the crime is much lower.

Marina isn't a horrible place, btw. It's at the outskirts of Monterey, a mere 10 minute drive to Monterey (depending where in Marina you live). Some areas of it are certainly worse than others. If you can afford to rent in the areas where it's not so ghetto, you can get something pretty affordable and still be reasonably close to Monterey. Marina is expanding, however, so the rent/home values will rise at some point, and some areas will become much nicer than others, eventually. But in the year I lived in west Marina, we never experienced any crime or got worried about where we lived. My brother and his wife have lived in 3 different areas of west and north Marina, and haven't had any major complaints with it either.