Moving from Minneapolis to Santa Rosa area-Help! (Napa, Petaluma: home, job transfer)

[joshMN]

Hello, my family (wife and two young kids, not yet in school) are moving to Santa Rosa for a job transfer soon, but aren't sure where to live. We did some preliminary research on SR schools (not very encouraging) and found the Rincon Valley was recommended for great schools and safe neighborhoods-first and foremost, we want to live in an area where we can feel safe. Can anyone give me a "boots on the ground" perspective on SR vs Rincon Valley? Is RV a suburb of SR? Coming from the Twin Cities, everything is a suburb and no one admits to actually living in Minneapolis!

[bellalunatic]

Rincon Valley is a neighborhood in Santa Rosa...there are a few Santa Rosa folks roaming around here ..I'm boots on the ground for Petaluma if your interested, otherwise, I'm sure the SR folk will appear shortly!

[Stacy From Cali]

Hey, I answered this on the general California forum....

[Hank2]

I don''t recommend livng in Sonoma County... Period!! Too many illegal alien gang-bangers everywhere! Guerneville is especially bad, comprised of used-up old hippies and a fresh supply of white powder drug dealers from Mexico.

[Stacy From Cali]

Originally Posted by Hank2

I don''t recommend livng in Sonoma County... Period!! Too many illegal alien gang-bangers everywhere! Guerneville is especially bad, comprised of used-up old hippies and a fresh supply of white powder drug dealers from Mexico.

I'm guessing with this kind of misinformation that you probably DON'T live in Sonoma County then. Which is good for everyone involved.

Actually most of the old hippies live in Sebastopol (and in Humboldt County). These days Guerneville is more of a gay town.

[bellalunatic]

Originally Posted by Hank2

I don''t recommend livng in Sonoma County... Period!! Too many illegal alien gang-bangers everywhere! Guerneville is especially bad, comprised of used-up old hippies and a fresh supply of white powder drug dealers from Mexico.

Clearly this poster lives in Arkansas.

[uptown_urbanist]

Originally Posted by joshMN

Hello, my family (wife and two young kids, not yet in school) are moving to Santa Rosa for a job transfer soon, but aren't sure where to live. We did some preliminary research on SR schools (not very encouraging) and found the Rincon Valley was recommended for great schools and safe neighborhoods-first and foremost, we want to live in an area where we can feel safe. Can anyone give me a "boots on the ground" perspective on SR vs Rincon Valley? Is RV a suburb of SR? Coming from the Twin Cities, everything is a suburb and no one admits to actually living in Minneapolis!

I've tried to resist the urge to post, but every time I open up the SF page I see this post's heading. So, here goes... just got to stick up for my home town of Minneapolis! Not everything is a suburb, and I can say from experience that there are just as many people there who would never admit to being from a suburb. (yes, I'm a little touchy, but a couple of weeks ago in SF someone asked me if people "actually lived" in the city of Minneapolis. Yes, they do. Happily.)

Ignore Hank2. Don't know what his problem is. Sorry I don't have any useful information to contribute, other than to say that California is a great state, and the weather should be a nice change from Minnesota!

[hsw]

Look into Novato...perhaps better socio-economics than stuff further North (and an easy commute given CA weather and traffic flows)

Much as Medtronic often lists Minneapolis as hq (in Annual Repts, etc), even though in suburban ?Fridley, most of SF region's economy is based in various suburbs (just most are ~40mis S of SF in Silicon Valley, not up in Marin/Sonoma/Napa or out in EastBay, aside from Chevron)...

[Stacy From Cali]

Don't live in Novato if you are going to be working in Santa Rosa. Its not worth the commute (which will NOT be easy once you get to Petaluma on the 101).

Besides why live in Marin County when you can live in Sonoma County? Sonoma is cheaper and more beautiful.

One thing that I was thinking though, if you are already looking at Rincon Valley, you might be able to find a cool country place in Kenwood or Glen Ellen if you don't mind the additional driving time. I've always wanted to be able to live there, personally.

[joshMN]

Thanks Stacy-It's not easy trying to "see" the big picture from 2000 miles away.
Uptown- I guess I was just trying to distinguish between SR and an area/burb/neighborhood. While I don't live in Minneapolis proper, I love the city too!