I Think I Like It Here (Oroville) (Roseville, Chico: rentals, crime)

[woogexx]

meth is a problem everywhere people!!! you jus notice it more in oroville cuz the population is so small.....

[ghopper2]

I've been in Oroville since 1992.
Buy a home in the better part of town - east generally.
I've owned 3 homes in different parts of this 'generally east' area and haven't ever had a problem.

Jobs are a problem - I'm working in Sac at the moment (and looking in Chico).

Clarissa23 - you're Target store will get here soon enough ...
It's starting and soon Oroville will look like EVERY other town in America - enjoy it while there are
still antique stores downtown and you can walk to the river and fish!

As far as raising kids - it can be done!
I've raised 3 - the first has been accepted to 2 UC campuses as well as a CSU for Fall 2008.
The MOST IMPORTANT thing is to STAY INVOLVED!
Go to the school - get to know the administrators and teachers - BE THERE!
For my money, the best elementary school is Ophir - it's also in the middle of the best area to live.

Oroville's not a bad place - not nearly as bad as it's reputation.
It's where I ended up and it has turned out well.
Drive around this spring - there are some incredibly landscaped yards along the back streets - it's beautiful.
Then use the lake during summer - I've seen 118 degrees in the shade

[sweetana3]

My parents retired to a place outside of Oroville. The one and only thing I can say about it is that you can grow anything. They have fruits, nuts, gardens, citrus, etc. And it all seems to grow without a lot of care. They irrigate with river water.

I am from the Midwest and visit only seldomly. Seems to be not much to do but I am from a city of 1 million plus so it was a big big change.

They have difficulty getting medical needs met and have to travel outside of Oroville for it adding to gas expense. They have problems with care and getting services.

If there was a national crisis, I would move there and try to provide what we needed in terms of food from what they can grow but that is the one and only benefit I could find. For the elderly it pretty much sucks.

[woody1592002]

I am very glad to read about oroville. In my honest opinion, it looks like a very cute town. I have a plan to move there very soon. But I didn't find a crime map of this town. 'cos I normally check the area with police crime map. I didn't find one on city's website as well. Could anybody suggest me which part or area is the best? Where can I find rental houses? I checked with craigslist which is only a few homes on the list.
Thank you so very much.

[mr bolo]

Ive been to Oroville a few times, there is NOTHING THERE !

except OROVILLE DAM / LAKE

they have a nice shooting range thats free to the public

[woody1592002]

What do you mean?
Are they shooting to the people?
Pls help me.
Scary.

[NW2TX]

I spent the winter in Oroville and while I will agree that I would have LOVED a target (spent my shopping days in Chico) I found Oroville very quiet and nice. As long as you arent a druggie, chances are you won't really "feel" the problem. We had no trouble making friends and was a little sorry to leave. Oroville has ALOT of hard working normal people. We did find that had we settled there we would have probably bought real estate out of the city. Lots of nice land all around there. The 5 mo we spent there really helped us to slow down our pace and realize that we really don't need all of the retail stores at our finger tips and we really didn't need all of the crazy chain restaurants at every corner. Oh and Starbucks everywhere! That was my biggest gripe at first but came to like Muggers! That calmness we took with us. The Casino has a wonderful steak house at the top which we indulged in a couple times and when the new Applebees opened-Whew you would think that it was the bomb! I liked it and hope you do too.

[raina0831]

I've lived in Oroville for 22 years now - since I was 17.

I have never found it difficult to find above-average paying work here, but others I have met can't find a job here to save their lives. For the record, I have some college education, but no degree.

At one time, I worked with the drug and alcohol addicted, but other than that, my exposure has been limited. However, I must admit that I avoid WalMart and the casinos at the first of the month, because it can be jaw-dropping .

Driving through Southside can be a bit nerve-wracking and I avoid it at all costs. I have to wonder about the downtown area as well. There are some beautiful homes there, but there are some, often right next door to the nice homes, that are certainly questionable.

My first home was near the hospital and was a nice retirement as well as a young, working family-type area when I lived there. It is still a decent area, but no longer can you let your children ride their bikes around the block and you have to make sure everything is locked up tight, whether you are at home or not. I now live in the east foothills of Oroville and it is just lovely here.

The healthcare leaves something to be desired and I do most of my physical/medical visits in Chico or Paradise. My eye dr and dentist are in Oroville and they are both wonderful. If I or a family member needed surgery or a hospital stay, I would definitely leave town. I've heard too many horror stories of Oroville Hospital from ex-patients and ex-employees.

I have 4 children that attended Oroville schools. 2 in college, one in high school and one in elementary school. It's really the same as any town you may consider living and raising a family in - pick and choose the area you live in and the schools your children attend and you will be fine.

The weather is mild most of the year, but gets hot during the summer months. After having just spent two weeks traveling the midwest, I am SO glad the humidity is low here!

Again, just do your research and decide if the area (any area you are considering) is going to work for you and your family based upon your wants and needs.

[misterdammit]

Why are so many people hung up on Oroville's meth problem??? Don't do meth and it won't be a problem for you. Geez.

I lived in Chico for several years and had to commute to Oroville for work for a period of about two months. I've also gone there occasionally for other reasons. It's boooooooooooooring. Trying to kill an entire lunch hour by checking out the places in Oroville sure doesn't take long. Oroville is also very ugly in the summer when all the grass turns brown.

As for the heat...it's no worse than the rest of the north valley. Personally, if I were going to choose a small, northstate town, I'd pick Chico (again) or if I didn't mind something even tinier, Paradise or Magalia. Chico is at least big enough to where there is something to do/decent shopping/etc, and it has a nice downtown. Paradise and Magalia are quite pretty.

[rickca]

I used to live in Chico near Oroville and I think the natural setting of that area is very nice, theres plenty of outdoor recreation in the area and its near the Sierra Nevada mountains but one thing is that it seems that too many of the locals in that area seemed to me to be drug users, its known as one of the hotspots for making meth in all of California because of its isolated location. I would just be a bit careful but if you're living away from town out in the country you probably won't have any problems. I get the idea that there are 2 types of people who live in the area: conservative people with values who would probably be your gun owning "respect my privacy / don't mess with me types" who probably own a bit of land and then the drug users, I don' mean this to sound offensive but its the impression I got from 2 years in the Butte county area, also I was taking a class to be an EMT so I went on ambulance ride-alongs and saw first hand what a lot of the people are like from going to their homes for medical calls. I think this would be a horrible place to raise a family but it could very well be a great place for someone who is older whose kids are grown or is not raising a family.