NE urban corridor between 80 & 50 - thoughts? (Sacramento, Oakland: city hall, low crime)

[ElenaF]

Hi folks,

Our family is looking at moving to the Sac area in the next 4 months. We're particularly interested in the large urban corridor NE of Sacramento proper, between I-80 and state 50.

We've been looking up things around Carmichael, Fair Oaks, Citrus Heights and Orangevale.

Looking for opinions, both pro and con, from any folks that live or have recently lived in those general areas.

We're concerned with air quality (we have a chemically sensitive family member) and general good quality of life (the standard middle class suburbia thing - low crime, quiet streets, neighbors with some housepride and a smile, a coffeshop or two).

Any thoughts or preferences within this large swatch? All comments appreciated, thanks

[wburg]

If you like the standard middle class suburbia thing, there's a whole lot of it out there. Malls, shopping centers, and tract homes. Commuting downtown is a pain and likely to get more painful, but if you have a job out that way it's much easier. Public transit isn't quite nonexistent, but nearly so.

[CityGirl72]

Although those areas are nice - in my opinion their not suburbia to me, they are more the "affordable suburbias", more blue collar working middle class, which is not a bad thing!

How suburbia do you want? There are other areas that have MUCH lower crime and better schools (not that San Juan School district is bad!)

Out of the areas you listed, I'd look at Fair Oaks (actually I have been looking at Fair Oaks)

[pba]

Originally Posted by ElenaF

Hi folks,

Our family is looking at moving to the Sac area in the next 4 months. We're particularly interested in the large urban corridor NE of Sacramento proper, between I-80 and state 50.

We've been looking up things around Carmichael, Fair Oaks, Citrus Heights and Orangevale.

Looking for opinions, both pro and con, from any folks that live or have recently lived in those general areas.

We're concerned with air quality (we have a chemically sensitive family member) and general good quality of life (the standard middle class suburbia thing - low crime, quiet streets, neighbors with some housepride and a smile, a coffeshop or two).

Any thoughts or preferences within this large swatch? All comments appreciated, thanks

Since the two of us have already gotten off to such a great start we could use this opportunity to become best buddies! Mather is exactly what you're looking for....minus the coffee shops.

[zen_klown]

In general, Sacramento has really bad air. The American Lung Association ranked it in the top 10 for Particle Pollution.

American Lung Association:*SOTA05 Best and Worst Citites

Prevailing winds blow the pollution from the Bay Area to Sacramento and that pollution mixes with the locally generated pollution and the heat to make a fairly toxic soup.

During winter time, Sacramento can get tule fog. When it does, there is an inversion layer over the Sacramento region that traps the pollution in.

If you have a family member who is chemically sensitive, I really would suggestion living somewhere else other than Sacramento. The foothills surrounding Sacramento are no better. You would do much better closer to the coast.

News - Foothills attempt to clear the air - sacbee.com


If you must live in Sacramento, I would avoid living anywhere too close to the trains. It turns out the diesel trains are fairly large emitters of particulate pollution as well. The Roseville Railyard is probably the worst, because you have lots of trains idling there, but that rail corridor from the Port of Oakland through downtown to Roseville to the East Coast is one of the busier one's in region.

News - Roseville railyard's air pollution found highest downwind - sacbee.com

What you are looking for is neighborhood with a lot of tall trees especially Redwood trees, that is far from major sources of traffic. I would be looking for something close to the American River, perhaps off California Avenue in Carmichael, off American River Drive or perhaps something in the middle of Arden Park. A lot depends on your budget.

News - Tree study clears the air - sacbee.com

[CityGirl72]

As Zen said, I totally forgot I was going to say it too,

If you have chemically sensitive children, and you need somewhere with low smog, please do not move your children to Sac. It's very smog laiden year round and it hardly ever blows out. And in the summer I'd predict you'd keep them in your house all day - because the heat really makes the air quality thick and distructive.

[ElenaF]

This is some really terrific info, thanks! I had no idea the air quality was quite so bad as that, it's kind of depressing, really. Does anyone know here I can find a map that shows the local prevailing wind patterns? Not moving to Sac may be an issue, since we are doing it primarily for job reasons. Schools are not a factor for us, our kids are done and off to college.

It's not really the "suburbia" thing that interests us (actually, it's a bit of a turnoff in many ways), it's the pluses that usually come with suburbia, which are things like houses with some yard space, clean streets, community parks, dog friendliness, lower crime rates, neighbors who keep their yard clean and mostly mind their own business, etc.

The downside to suburbia are things like little or no culture, stripmalls, impersonal cookiecutter hoods, etc.

Guess we're looking for the best of all worlds, or as close as we can get: a clean, quiet, safe neighborhood with friendly people that has a some character and a few places to socialize with friends, places we can safely walk or ride bikes to. See? everything

You guys are really informative, and the wide range of opinions is really helpful. I'd like to hear which neighborhoods/areas you love best in Sacramento, and why.

[CityGirl72]

YOu know there are some REALLY nice areas - that if you don't have kids I'd highly recommend. But what is your budget? What can you afford?

The places I love are: Midtown, East Sac, and Land Park (which are the top choices for where I'll be moving back, but the schools aren't as great as the suburbs)

[18Montclair]

That's the area in Sacramento I most enjoyed living in. I had never lived in a suburban area before and so it was a huge transition for me but I actually liked it much more than Granite Bay(the other area of Sac I lived in) because of the much greater diversity(not only of cultures, but also classes) and closer proximity to stores, restaurants and things to do.

I lived off of Eastern Avenue and Arden Way in an area called Arden Oaks.

Anyway, Good Luck.

[wburg]

Elena F: I will back up CityGirl. If you're looking for someplace a little quieter, take a look at some of the outer neighborhoods of midtown Sacramento, like Boulevard Park, New Era Park and Marshall School, Richmond Grove, Poverty Ridge or Newton Booth. There are community parks, the single-family homes do have yards (just not gigantic lawn monsters you need a riding mower to mow) the streets are clean, GOBS of character, lots of places nearby to socialize with friends and many things within walking distance, and good (not great, but good) public transit. People mostly mind their own business, but the central city also tends to have really active neighborhood associations, who do things like put on social events in addition to their more traditional purpose of bugging City Hall for neighborhood improvements. Some of the other central city neighborhoods are like this (Southside Park, Midtown proper, Winn Park, Alkali Flat/Mansion Flat) but are less quiet and safe.