What is it like living in Chino CA?

[J. Robb]

CVUSD does take in the areas of Chino and Chino Hills. However, even within the same school districts there are vast differences due to scio-economics etc. The Chino Hills schools attract the kind of families and teachers that you would probably want. I have never witnessed any racial discrimination, and even the most affluent schools are very diverse. For schools alone, Chino Hills would have my vote. There are other reason also, read on......

I would not buy at the Preserve for the folowing reasons.

1. The grade school that is buit and ready to open next fall will not open due to the economic slowdown (not enough families buying houses, hence not enough children) and the district had to cut thier budget by 10% so who know when the neighborhood school will open.

2 The smell created by urine and feces which have permiated the ground for decades so much so that many areas require methane abatement programs for them to meet the health standards required for humans habitation. Norco has the same problem in various areas with methane. The smell and the flies would drive me crazy and it will be around for the foreseeable future.

3. Also in Chino no one has mentioned the wind. It blows through the Cajon Pass almost constantly and makes life difficult in so many ways for those who live in "the wind tunnel" . Lawn furniture has to anchored, most small trees are snapped off, and the dust and dirt in the air is pretty unbearable.

Finally, Yorba Linds is such a nice community (overall) that I can not see why
you want to leave it! If it is a new house, trust me, it's not worth it.

[chuck22b]

I think there's a dichotomy in Chino between North Chino and South Chino. North Chino is the older downtown areas of Chino by the 60 freeway that has a more urban feel with more shopping centers and city facilities while South Chino has a more rural feel with newer construction, airport, industrial warehouses, prisons, dairies, and agricultural fields.

When people are talking about how Chino has become like TJ, I think they're talking more about northern Chino. On the other hand, when they talk about the better schools, etc... they're talking about Southern Chino (or the parts by the 71), and how they share schools with Chino Hills (CVUSD). Overall though I think the City of Chino actually cares about it's youth programs and education. It's ranked in the top 100 Communities for young people 2 out of 3 years.

America's Promise Alliance - 100 Best

My family moved to the Preserve in southern Chino at the end of last year, and so far it's been pretty good. It's true that the k-12 school is built and sitting. Although it may not open this Fall, from my observation (most notably the Spring Easter Event and Easter Egg Hunt), I've seen more kids in the infant to early toddler ages than those that are going to fit into the k-12 age group. So, the school might not open this year... but I have very good faith that there is way more than enough children going to be able to go to that school in the near future. My daughter's two, our neighbors have kids that are <=3, and our neighbor's neighbors has kids < 3, and that's just three households. Also, the Preserve isn't a ghost town... from a recent news letter there are over 800 (Jan '08) families living at the Preserve (800 * 3 /houshold = 2400 people).

As for the flies and smell here... it does come into factor. Flies in the summer and warmer days are going to be pretty bad. During the winter and early spring we haven't had a problem at all. For the summer we have a fly zapper in the garage, two electric fly swatters, and fly tape ready as needed. Overall though, if you can keep your house clean and manage the flies inside things should be ok. As for the cow smells it depends on the breeze and type of day. Sometimes it can be like your inside a porta potty, but most of the time you can't even smell it or its fine.

The winds can get heavy... but lots of areas in Southern California gets windy with the Santa Anas... (remember the fires last year?) Wind isn't an isolated thing in Chino, but I think parts of Ontario, Fontana, Rancho areas have higher winds because of the Cajon Pass. Overall Chino has fairly typical Southern California weather with warm days and cool evenings.

Yorba Linda is definitely a nicer city overall... but home prices are over double the prices in Chino. It's like saying everybody would like to live in Beverly Hills, but not everybody can afford it... unless I guess you pay heavy rents there.

-chuck22b

[uglyblackjohn]

The smell of the cows still linger. The Hills are a nice area to live though. Racial issues only arise if you make it an issue.

[tag08]

My sister and I spent two years each at seperate times at Chino High and there was at least one race riot a year for each of us. One that occurred while she was there was on the news!

I lived in the area for 24 years. After a while you don't even notice the dairy smell anymore. Even when I go back to visit I don't notice it.. And my family lives close to Riverside Dr.

[pjbier]

Thank you for the honest information Chuck. My husband and I recently purchased a townhome in The Preserve and I found this site while looking for more information on this community. I appreciate your posts very much, as they always include positive aspects of Chino and honest information about the negatives. After watching the housing market go crazy for several years, it is exciting for my husband and I to finally have an opportunity to become a homeowner. While I imagine no first-time homebuying situation is perfect (unless you have unlimited funds), we feel that we have found a nice, new community to raise our daughter. We are not too worried about what the housing market is going to do over the next couple of years, because we are purchasing a home that we intend to live in for several years. The cow smell doesn't really bother us, the flies might but we will do what you have done (bug zappers, etc.), and we are optimistic that the good will outweigh the bad.

[chuck22b]

Originally Posted by pjbier

Thank you for the honest information Chuck. My husband and I recently purchased a townhome in The Preserve and I found this site while looking for more information on this community. I appreciate your posts very much, as they always include positive aspects of Chino and honest information about the negatives. After watching the housing market go crazy for several years, it is exciting for my husband and I to finally have an opportunity to become a homeowner. While I imagine no first-time homebuying situation is perfect (unless you have unlimited funds), we feel that we have found a nice, new community to raise our daughter. We are not too worried about what the housing market is going to do over the next couple of years, because we are purchasing a home that we intend to live in for several years. The cow smell doesn't really bother us, the flies might but we will do what you have done (bug zappers, etc.), and we are optimistic that the good will outweigh the bad.

That is awesome pjbier! Welcome to the board, and congratulations on your new home. I hope you guys like the community and maybe we'll run into each other in the future.

This board is a wealth of information, and the people here are in the most part friendly and very knowledgeable.

take care,
chuck22b

[Texasturkey]

Originally Posted by peppermint~patty

Test scores maybe good, but schools are over crowed, unless you child is very smart he are she will have a hard time, a lot of bulling ect... I lived in chino and when to school there from k-12 and my kids went there and then my grand kids started but I move out of state to so my grandkids didn't have to. And it also depends on the color of you skin yes we are in the year 2008 but it still out there. And I am white my daughter looks Mexican and my son looks white and my daughter had no problems but my one son was pushed around, my other son was not. So with that Good luck, I just wanted to be honest, so you no all the fax's before making a move. Also one more think my Ant works at Romona Jr and she could tell you if you would like?

bulling, ant, fax's, over crowed....?

I am sorry that you did not get a good education in Chino. Especially your English classes. Best of luck where you are now.