What happened to Paradise Hills? (Chula Vista, Oceanside: middle-class, section 8, real estate)

[seventhcandle]

I lived in Paradise Hills from Dec. 2006 to Jan 2008 in a condo complex near Woodman and Alta View right off the 54. Now I have lived in many places in SD over the past 10 years, including La Jolla, Mira Mesa, University City, Clairemont, Talmadge, College Area, and presently Rancho Penasquitos. Never have I been so mystified with the state of community affairs as in Paradise Hills.

The style of housing in Paradise Hills is pretty much the same as Penasquitos. Most of the older homes here in Penasquitos were built in the 70s and 80s by many of the same builders who built homes in Paradise Hills. Some of the views in Paradise Hills (esp. off Alta View and Omega Drive) are pretty incredible, as you can see miles out toward Coronado and Silver Strand on a clear day.

It looks like, at one time, Paradise Hills might have been quite the thriving suburb, much like Rancho Penasquitos is now, but perhaps the areas it was surrounded by contributed to its downfall.

My wife and I used to go for regular walks through the neighborhoods of Paradise Hills and would find that many homes simply weren't taken care of. Windows were boarded up, weeds were growing outward into the sidewalk and streets, and trash littered the sidewalk and yards nearly everywhere we walked. There was graffiti on most street signs, sidewalks, and even backyard walls. It just seemed as though at some point, people decided they didn't want to keep up this area any more. There was quite a bit of crime even near our relatively quiet condo complex and irresponsible families who would just let their kids run amuck in the streets with little or no supervision.

Living in Rancho Penasquitos, I definitely notice some superficial similarities to Paradise Hills, but do they stop right there? Is the only thing that Rancho Penasquitos and Paradise Hills have in common the housing and the homebuilders? Could Rancho Penasquitos, too, slip into the same ruin that Paradise Hills slipped into or is the demographic here so vastly different that it would never happen?

My wife and I walk comfortably through Rancho Penasquitos now and are grateful for how safe we feel here. I often wonder if Paradise Hills once afforded families the same feeling of safety, cleanliness, and comfort.

I just feel that Paradise Hills must have been a thriving middle class suburb at one point, but at what point did things take a turn for the worst? With the great views and parks that it has, I wonder how come more wealthy and upper middle-class people didn't take charge of the area and maintain it?

And then I think of the bigger question, which is what community factors can take a formerly healthy suburb and run it down to the ground?

[Sassberto]

The early 90's housing bust happened. At the time, PH was the exurbs. Today it's Chula Vista. The houses get foreclosed, become section 8, and you end up with the "suburban ghetto".

Notice how inner-city neighborhoods are getting rehabbed while places like PH get worse?

[libbykt]

Sassberto, that's actually my current fear about moving into one of the foreclosure-heavy neighborhoods. We plan to rent for at least a year to see how things shape up in the market, and to see how things have changed in the 2 years since we sold our last house in Oceanside. But I have visions of living in a 3,000 square foot granite and stainless and whatever else upgrades all the new homes had and being trapped inside with my 2 year old because of the riff raff moving into the neighborhood. Now that's hell.

[Sassberto]

Originally Posted by libbykt

Sassberto, that's actually my current fear about moving into one of the foreclosure-heavy neighborhoods. We plan to rent for at least a year to see how things shape up in the market, and to see how things have changed in the 2 years since we sold our last house in Oceanside. But I have visions of living in a 3,000 square foot granite and stainless and whatever else upgrades all the new homes had and being trapped inside with my 2 year old because of the riff raff moving into the neighborhood. Now that's hell.

I think this time around the real problems will be in the far-flung exurbs like Murietta or Hemet or San Jacinto moreso than Oceanside or Chula Vista. But I think you are smart to be concerned, just keep an eye out. This time around it's more flippers and specu-vesters in trouble than regular family homeowners, at least we hope.

[jkoz]

As an Eastlake resident, I still chuckle when Eastlake/East Chula Vista (or any part of C.V.) is called a "ghetto."

Real ghettos:
1. Hell's Kitchen in New York
2. The ghetto that Elvis sings about.
3. The setting of "West Side Story"

Eastlake?? C'mon now.

[SouthCali4LifeSD]

Originally Posted by jkoz

As an Eastlake resident, I still chuckle when Eastlake/East Chula Vista (or any part of C.V.) is called a "ghetto."

Real ghettos:
1. Hell's Kitchen in New York
2. The ghetto that Elvis sings about.
3. The setting of "West Side Story"

Eastlake?? C'mon now.

i second this post. i too live in eastlake and i must say, people in eastlake are quite spoiled these days. the village walk at eastlake, the eastlake market place, the otay ranch shopping center with amc theaters, san miguel marketplace, the shopping streip with vons and all those other cool shops, endless upscale franchised restaurants, excellent schools, a very very dense suburb with excellent use of land, two world class golf courses, extremely diverse, otay lake, the olympic training center, its own toll freeway, very very clean, it's bustling but easy to find peace in many areas, very very walkable, its own wal mart, home depot, kohls, lowes, target, lots of fast food... man i can go on, but you can't complain about these luxuries. eastlake is the perfect example of how a suburb should be! it's an urban suburb in my opinion!!

by the way, i lived in paradise hills for 6 years before moving to eastlake 3 years ago and i have to agree, that area is quickly becoming lower middle class. it's still safe to say that many areas of it are still very strongly middle class though, to be fair. my parents own two homes in the area and their real estate values havent dropped nearly as much as their eastlake mcmansion -- a true irony!

[jkoz]

[quote=SouthCali4LifeSD;2957362]i second this post. i too live in eastlake and i must say, people in eastlake are quite spoiled these days. the village walk at eastlake, the eastlake market place, the otay ranch shopping center with amc theaters, san miguel marketplace, the shopping streip with vons and all those other cool shops, endless upscale franchised restaurants, excellent schools, a very very dense suburb with excellent use of land, two world class golf courses, extremely diverse, otay lake, the olympic training center, its own toll freeway, very very clean, it's bustling but easy to find peace in many areas, very very walkable, its own wal mart, home depot, kohls, lowes, target, lots of fast food... man i can go on, but you can't complain about these luxuries. eastlake is the perfect example of how a suburb should be! it's an urban suburb in my opinion!!

Eat your lil' heart out, Penasquitos/Poway/Bernardo/Marcos, etc., etc.

[Sampaguita]

You know - I have to say I'm a bit confused by all the negative imagery of the Eastlake area. We have some friends who have gorgeous homes there. Last year, a friend & I hopped around the different new developments and looked at model homes pricing in the 1million range (day off from work). LOL - the county's first Chick-Fil-A opened up in that area...how bad can it be? Or am I thinking of a different area? Would Telegraph (or is it Telephone) Canyon Road heading east be what everyone is referring to? That's what I imagine when Eastlake is mentioned.

[jksouthbay88]

Yeah I see Eastlake becoming a Suburban Ghetto.That's how a lot of Las Vegas is now days.

[jkoz]

You can get to Eastlake on Telegraph Cyn Rd, but Telegraph Cyn becomes Otay Lakes before it reaches Eastlake. The area near Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center and the Vons Shopping Center close to the 805 is not Eastlake yet. Eastlake begins about 7 miles east of I-805. . .No, I don't see the "ghetto" thing either. Eastlake is everything that SouthCali4Life mentioned above. I've been there since '93 and wouldn't choose anywhere else in the county to live. IMHO it's as nice as/nicer than most other areas of town I mentioned above. . .I must be missing whatever it is that makes it a "ghetto", but if that is what it is, I feel blessed to live in this kind of ghetto

BTW, the "Village Walk" and "Shops at San Miguel Ranch" are gorgeous--what a view at the San Miguel Ranch Starbuck's - Point Loma, the ocean, the Coronados, wow.