opinions about the city of El Cajon. (San Diego, Chula Vista: apartment complexes, houses)

[maddball26]

I was born and raised here in El Cajon. Im 30 years old now. I traveled a lot in mexico for a few years as well.
But my question is this: Why do so many other people that are not from el cajon or east county think that el cajon is awfull and think that el cajon is a barrio or ghetto and also why do they think that el cajon is poor or lower class? Is it becasue of all the mexicans/lations in El Cajon or becasue of all the middle eastern people in El Cajon or what? Or is it all the homeless people in El cajon?

Thanks

Jason

[jksouthbay88]

I'm not one of those people.I think El Cajon is a great city.I live in Chula Vista and it is pretty much the same here as it is there.Thus people bringing down the city.

[Huckleberry3911948]

Originally Posted by maddball26

I was born and raised here in El Cajon. Im 30 years old now. I traveled a lot in mexico for a few years as well.
But my question is this: Why do so many other people that are not from el cajon or east county think that el cajon is awfull and think that el cajon is a barrio or ghetto and also why do they think that el cajon is poor or lower class? Is it becasue of all the mexicans/lations in El Cajon or becasue of all the middle eastern people in El Cajon or what? Or is it all the homeless people in El cajon?

Thanks

Jason

it that a retorical question or is it an invitation to make some remark that may be interpreted as racist as defined by much gratuitus demographic info given in the invitation.
?? that is a favorite sport re logal heights invite people, preferably whites, to comment on the conditions in logan barrio and then accuse them of racist statements as logan is inhabited by a large degree by afro americans so therefore anything said about the area is a racial attack.
is this another tar baby question? just asking.
stephen s
san diego, ca

[Sassberto]

San Diegans have a skewed view of what the middle class looks like. A lot of people think that because the guy who owns that house in La Jolla was middle class in 1974 when he bought the house, he is still middle class. He may have been then but he sure isn't now. A lot of people use the Orange County barometer and it's skewed up in a big way.

Carmel Valley, Rancho Bernardo and Poway are not middle class places anymore - La Mesa, El Cajon, Chula Vista, Santee are where the new Middle Class are, and where the established working class already is. But a lot of San Diegans will call those areas "ghetto".

Go to any number of midwestern small cities and you will notice a striking resemblance to El Cajon.

[maddball26]

ok i get it now i think. It just that people that dont live in east county think that east county is barrio and ghetto. Is the homeless or the latinos/mexicans? Is that why? From what Ive read/heard El Cajon is like 25% Latino/hispanic I think. But see, you have to remember, there are 3 different zip codes in El Cajon. And each of those areas are different. I happen to live in 92021. And i don't think El Cajon is that bad becasue our real only mall, parkway plaza is not ghetto or barrio at all. Its a nice cool mall.

So tell me what you think,

Jason

[Sassberto]

Originally Posted by maddball26

ok i get it now i think. It just that people that dont live in east county think that east county is barrio and ghetto. Is the homeless or the latinos/mexicans? Is that why? From what Ive read/heard El Cajon is like 25% Latino/hispanic I think. But see, you have to remember, there are 3 different zip codes in El Cajon. And each of those areas are different. I happen to live in 92021. And i don't think El Cajon is that bad becasue our real only mall, parkway plaza is not ghetto or barrio at all. Its a nice cool mall.

So tell me what you think,

Jason

Combination of things:
- run down central business district
- homeless
- exposed electrical services
- lots of multi-family property
- run-down single family homes

El Cajon is not that bad by national standards, but it's judged by San Diego and SoCal standards which I described above as "skewed". A lot of the people who bash it have never really even been there.

[maddball26]

aha exactly. But Ive heard that it's the mayor of el cajon's fault- mark lewis. Ive heard that he dosen't really give a care/crap about his own city- el cajon.

any opinions?

Jason

[Sassberto]

Originally Posted by maddball26

aha exactly. But Ive heard that it's the mayor of el cajon's fault- mark lewis. Ive heard that he dosen't really give a care/crap about his own city- el cajon.

any opinions?

Jason

Not sure if you can blame the mayor. He didn't create the problems. Those malls killed the mom n' pop businesses and the downtown in the 60's and 70's. The vacant property gets scooped up by developers who build multi-family property. Same thing happened in my neighborhood. Mission Valley took all the commercial business away from the traditional commercial district (El Cajon Boulevard, University Ave). Slowly but surely that is changing, but this has happened all over the country. It's a big cycle.

[maddball26]

aha. But do you think that there are a lot more gangs/gangsters in El Cajon like people say? It's hard for me to say becasuse i live in the bostonia area of el cajon, in the county section, near lakeside.

Jason

p.s. i wonder why el cajon doesnt have any good big churches other than shadow mountain church.

[Sassberto]

Originally Posted by maddball26

aha. But do you think that there are a lot more gangs/gangsters in El Cajon like people say? It's hard for me to say becasuse i live in the bostonia area of el cajon, in the county section, near lakeside.

Jason

p.s. i wonder why el cajon doesnt have any good big churches other than shadow mountain church.

There are a lot more gangsters in El Cajon than 5 years ago, that's for sure. The injunctions in SESD have pushed those dudes out of their mom's houses in SE into apartment complexes Lemon Grove, Spring Valley, El Cajon. But out there they are disorganized.