Random questions (Sacramento, Roseville, Davis: real estate, house, living)

[rah62]

I'll be visiting Sacramento twice in the next two months (5/30 - 6/2 and 6/28 - 7/4) and there's a 50/50 chance I'll be moving there in October (the other major contender is Albuquerque), so here are some random things I've been wondering about in hopes that a local will take pity on me and answer!

The Bee - I've been looking at their website on-line, and on an occasional Sunday, downloading the entire paper via http://www.newsstand.com/ - but I'm wondering if there's a particular day of the week (other than Sunday) that the Bee puts a particular emphasis on local news.

Reagan Home - Where is the home that the Reagans lived in while he was Governor, in lieu of the mansion that Nancy thought was so gawdawful?

Groceries - What's the major grocery chain down there? Does one have a big hold on the market? For those familiar with the Pacific NW, I'm a Fred Meyer shopper - that'll give you a clue as to what I'm after.

Career - I'm in lower-level positions in the academic/health care field. Does anyone have any inside scoop as to whether UC Davis Med Center, or Sutter, or KP, are good/bad/ugly places to work?

Davis - on the off-chance I'd end up working a UC Davis itself, what is the commute like from Midtown to Davis? Is it going "against" traffic?

OK, that's enough for one post. See - I told you it was random.

[NewToCA]

Having only been here for 8 months myself I don't want to overly respond to your questions, but here are some initial responses:

The Bee has a dedicated local section each Thursday

Don't know where the Reagan house is

Groceries are generally bought at Raley's/Bel Air (a single chain) and Safeway. Neither are discount, Raley's/Bel Air a little more upscale. FoodMaxx is coming to the market, I think it is discount oriented. Some discount shopping at WinCo and WalMart, but neither has much market at this time. Of course you have some Trader Joe's and other specialty stores too. Ralph's and Albertson's have recently closed here.

Career - no idea

Davis has a large medical facility just south of Rt 50 about 3 miles east of downtown.

At least it is a start!

[jguillot]

Originally Posted by rah62

I'll be visiting Sacramento twice in the next two months (5/30 - 6/2 and 6/28 - 7/4) and there's a 50/50 chance I'll be moving there in October (the other major contender is Albuquerque), so here are some random things I've been wondering about in hopes that a local will take pity on me and answer!

The Bee - I've been looking at their website on-line, and on an occasional Sunday, downloading the entire paper via http://www.newsstand.com/ - but I'm wondering if there's a particular day of the week (other than Sunday) that the Bee puts a particular emphasis on local news.

Reagan Home - Where is the home that the Reagans lived in while he was Governor, in lieu of the mansion that Nancy thought was so gawdawful?

Groceries - What's the major grocery chain down there? Does one have a big hold on the market? For those familiar with the Pacific NW, I'm a Fred Meyer shopper - that'll give you a clue as to what I'm after.

Career - I'm in lower-level positions in the academic/health care field. Does anyone have any inside scoop as to whether UC Davis Med Center, or Sutter, or KP, are good/bad/ugly places to work?

Davis - on the off-chance I'd end up working a UC Davis itself, what is the commute like from Midtown to Davis? Is it going "against" traffic?

OK, that's enough for one post. See - I told you it was random.

I can help with some of your questions. I've never seen a Fred Meyer store here. Safeway, Albertsons, Raley's, and Bel-Air are the major chain stores.

The UC Davis Health System and UC Davis Medical Center do offer lower-level positions in the academic/health care field. Their benefits are excellent. I know this because I work for them. For some positions, Sutter and KP will pay a little more than UCD, but the excellent benefits make up for that. If you are interested in checking out job postings for the UCD Health System or UC Davis Medical Center, send me a private message and I'll send you a website link.

I suggest you do a comparison on cost of living and cost of housing between Sacramento and Albuquerque. Housing is expensive in Sacramento. Good luck in making that decision.

[CityGirl72]

I'm in PNW (and used to live in Sac)

Being that in Seattle Fred Meyer is the very economical place (I used Safeway up here), Don't go to any Bel Air or Raley's those are the expensive spots

When I lived in Sac - I shopped Albertson's

[Kingsnkali]

Winco foods has expanded around the Sacramento area in the last 2 or 3 years. They seem to carry lots of PNW type food brands and are very reasonable in pricing.

I think Ronald and Nancy lived on the north side of the American River. Maybe around Fair Oaks?

Other than real estate costs, I think SAC is superior to ABQ.

[Guingirl]

I lived in Sacramento (grew up in Roseville) and drove through ABQ on the way out to Fort Worth. You couldn't pay me to live in ABQ. People talk about smog in Sacramento, we saw a huge layer in January ( I am assuming it was from the fireplaces because they had had an ice storm - another plus...Sacramento has NO ice storms .

On the Bee website you can go into local area news and it breaks it down to Davis, downtown, natomas, elk grove, roseville, rocklin etc.

UCD is a great hospital and I think you will do well with any medical facility there. I think there is a recruiter that frequents this board as well. Also look into Catholic Healthcare West - they have their Mercy hospitals around as well.

Good luck! I am hoping to get back in September or October timeframe to get some yummy apples at Apple Hill which is a tradition in my family.

[rah62]

Thank you for the comments - keep 'em coming!

As for ABQ in January - depending on when you were driving through, it may have been the huge snowfall they got on December 30. I was supposed to fly from PDX to ABQ that day, and they got 15" of snow that day - an all-time record. I finally got there two days later and spent a week there. There was still a great deal of snow around when I left. Other than that day it was sunny the whole time I was there; it got above freezing during the day so the snow began melting, but it got down to the low teens at night so everything re-froze each evening.

[cw68]

Originally Posted by rah62

I'll be visiting Sacramento twice in the next two months (5/30 - 6/2 and 6/28 - 7/4) and there's a 50/50 chance I'll be moving there in October (the other major contender is Albuquerque), so here are some random things I've been wondering about in hopes that a local will take pity on me and answer!

The Bee - I've been looking at their website on-line, and on an occasional Sunday, downloading the entire paper via http://www.newsstand.com/ - but I'm wondering if there's a particular day of the week (other than Sunday) that the Bee puts a particular emphasis on local news.

Reagan Home - Where is the home that the Reagans lived in while he was Governor, in lieu of the mansion that Nancy thought was so gawdawful?

Groceries - What's the major grocery chain down there? Does one have a big hold on the market? For those familiar with the Pacific NW, I'm a Fred Meyer shopper - that'll give you a clue as to what I'm after.

Career - I'm in lower-level positions in the academic/health care field. Does anyone have any inside scoop as to whether UC Davis Med Center, or Sutter, or KP, are good/bad/ugly places to work?

Davis - on the off-chance I'd end up working a UC Davis itself, what is the commute like from Midtown to Davis? Is it going "against" traffic?

OK, that's enough for one post. See - I told you it was random.

1. Every day The Bee has a Metro section that has local news.

2. The Reagans lived in a home in Carmichael. Gov. Brown refused to live in it, however, and it was sold in the early '80s.

3. Safeway and Raley's/Bel Air are the two big ones. Raley's and Bel Air are the same company, little different style. Though they are multi-state, their HQ is located in West Sacramento. Safeway's from the Easy Bay. There is also The Nugget (upscale), Trader Joe's, Smart & Final and WinCo. The last two are more bargin-stores.

4. Don't know.

5. Sac to Davis is reverse commute (except for all those driving to the Bay for work), but I couldn't tell you how long it would take.

[rah62]

1. Every day The Bee has a Metro section that has local news.


I know that - I was just wondering if there was a day of the week in which the local section was larger, or on which they paid particular emphasis to certain areas.

Maybe it's not the case with the Bee, but my local paper has a "local" section which appears daily, but which they only do certain things once a week.

[NewToCA]

The Bee has a local section on Thursdays, specific to different areas of the metro area.