Santa Cruz and Capitola high crime cities? (Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach: low crime, homes)

[jaijai]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

I'm thinking some of this is surfer skirmishes over the waves. Here's one article describing this:

Metroactive Features | Silicon Valley Surfers

Derek

Surf.com: a Surfer and His Dog Take on the Digital World

A pretty good and somewhat amusing novel about this tension .... set in Santa Cruz and is about the clash between the surf culture and the silicon valley / dot.commers.
Although the author and his peers are not the violent nasty punks like the ones in the article you provided.

[Capt. Dan]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

I'm thinking some of this is surfer skirmishes over the waves. Here's one article describing this:

Metroactive Features | Silicon Valley Surfers

Derek

Thanks for that MtnSurfer. I remember a few runins with guys from "the valley" back in the late 60's and early 70's when I was at UCSB and surfed Ventura County Line. But I think back then we mostly tussled over them bogartin the joints!

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by Capt. Dan

99 assaults in Capitola?? What did they do? Stand on the border with Aptos and throw insults??

Good one... Maybe things got out of hand at the Begonia Festival this year. Or maybe some stuff went down at the annual Sandcastle Contest.

I could walk down any street in Capitola anytime of day and not feel threatened. It's not even remotely dangerous. There used to be some drunk surf punks down on Pleasure Point back when it still had a surf ghetto feel, but even that area has been mostly gentrified in the last 15 years. Maybe some bored kids causing trouble around the 41st Ave mall area.

You can't look at the original list and statistics and seriously believe that Capitola is somehow as (or more dangerous) as a places like Richmond. Capitola's where we'd take my 70-year-old aunt when she comes to visit Santa Cruz; I wouldn't take my worst enemy to some neighborhoods in Richmond(or Stockton for that matter). There's been petty crime around Santa Cruz for some time now and there's always been some hotheads around, but it's mostly cases of theft or dumb kids or drunks getting out of hand. Statistics can be decieving though.

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by Deezus

...
You can't look at the original list and statistics and seriously believe that Capitola is somehow as (or more dangerous) as a places like Richmond. Capitola's where we'd take my 70-year-old aunt when she comes to visit Santa Cruz; I wouldn't take my worst enemy to some neighborhoods in Richmond(or Stockton for that matter). There's been petty crime around Santa Cruz for some time now and there's always been some hotheads around, but it's mostly cases of theft or dumb kids or drunks getting out of hand. Statistics can be decieving though.

I think most people who have visited Capitola would say they generally feel safe there. That is why these statistics are surprising. And there are other areas where you could walk day or not and not feel very safe. This brings up some interesting things and good food for thought.

First of all where do our perceptions of feeling safe come from? Do we feel safer in a more affluent area perhaps than poorer area? Do we arrive at them via personal experience as in your desciption = I've never had a problem? Do they come from recommendations from friends/relatives? Do they come from factual crime statistics for any given area?

Honestly I don't think of Capitola or even Santa Cruz as unsafe cities by and large. But at the same time I think we need to open our minds to the facts put before us. Crime happens everywere, thats a given. Yet, it can also happen to a greater extent in places we expected it least. Case in point would be a more affluent neighborhood or town like Capitola.

Its also important to consider all the facts and to keep in mind we are not just talking about the 99 assaults. There were also 11 robberies, 3 rapes, 608 larceny thefts, 78 burglaries, 22 auto thefts and 3 arsons in a town of 9,747 people.

With regards to Santa Cruz the numbers were much higher, but they were also spread over a larger over popluation, so the rate was a bit lower overall. Still some of the numbers give one pause for thought at the very least. The FBI is not making up these murders stastics or the others. These crimes happened and obviously effected peoples lives. For SC there were 6 murder/homicides, 396 Aggravated assaults, 31 rapes, 120 robberies, 495 burglaries, 2262 larceny thefts, 20 arsons, and 179 auto thefts.

That said I wouldn't consider Santa Cruz or Capitola unsafe towns overall. I would still take my family there to visit, go to the beach, etc... The numbers are just alarming based on my perception of these towns = gentrified, upscale, coastal towns. And I haven't even mentioned race which unfortunately sometimes plays part in ppls perceptions of safe as well.

Derek

[Deezus]

Originally Posted by MtnSurfer

I think most people who have visited Capitola would say they generally feel safe there. That is why these statistics are surprising. And there are other areas where you could walk day or not and not feel very safe. This brings up some interesting things and good food for thought.

First of all where do our perceptions of feeling safe come from? Do we feel safer in a more affluent area perhaps than poorer area? Do we arrive at them via personal experience as in your desciption = I've never had a problem? Do they come from recommendations from friends/relatives? Do they come from factual crime statistics for any given area?

Honestly I don't think of Capitola or even Santa Cruz as unsafe cities by and large. But at the same time I think we need to open our minds to the facts put before us. Crime happens everywere, thats a given. Yet, it can also happen to a greater extent in places we expected it least. Case in point would be a more affluent neighborhood or town like Capitola.

Its also important to consider all the facts and to keep in mind we are not just talking about the 99 assaults. There were also 11 robberies, 3 rapes, 608 larceny thefts, 78 burglaries, 22 auto thefts and 3 arsons in a town of 9,747 people.

With regards to Santa Cruz the numbers were much higher, but they were also spread over a larger over popluation, so the rate was a bit lower overall. Still some of the numbers give one pause for thought at the very least. The FBI is not making up these murders stastics or the others. These crimes happened and obviously effected peoples lives. For SC there were 6 murder/homicides, 396 Aggravated assaults, 31 rapes, 120 robberies, 495 burglaries, 2262 larceny thefts, 20 arsons, and 179 auto thefts.

That said I wouldn't consider Santa Cruz or Capitola unsafe towns overall. I would still take my family there to visit, go to the beach, etc... The numbers are just alarming based on my perception of these towns = gentrified, upscale, coastal towns. And I haven't even mentioned race which unfortunately sometimes plays part in ppls perceptions of safe as well.

Derek

I've commented on this on other threads, but I agree with most of what your saying. Santa Cruz has always had a sketchy underbelly--but in most neighborhoods outside of downtown/Beach Flats/lower Ocean it's mainly been property crime, including some of the richer neighborhoods. There has been rising crime in the area lately, but the eastside's always been fairly mellow. Capitola has always had a pretty well-budgeted police force--they're pretty good at responding and most crimes called in are going to be reported. Except for some lower rent apartment complexes or areas near 41st, it's a very mellow place in generally. Possibly it's gotten worse in the last couple years, as I haven't been back as much lately--but it's still hard for me to imagine that it's truly become dangerous enough to be among the 10 worst locations in a state with places like Fresno, Stockton, Compton, San Bernadino, and so on. There's been 1 murder in Capitola since 1999--it's not as if it's got open gang warfare or drug violence going on.

[rimmerama]

They are also both tourist towns, lots more people on summer days than are reflected by the population - getting drunk down at Zelda's...

Although, that goes more for Capitola - Santa Cruz is kind of a dump, has a very high homeless rate (much more than even San Francisco).

[jaijai]

Originally Posted by rimmerama

They are also both tourist towns, lots more people on summer days than are reflected by the population - getting drunk down at Zelda's...

Although, that goes more for Capitola - Santa Cruz is kind of a dump, has a very high homeless rate (much more than even San Francisco).

Yeah, Santa Cruz has it's problems and there are quite a few homeless people (which, btw, can speak well of a community ... that there is more tolerance for the marginalized and less fear and disdain) but to make such a generalization and call it a dump is just silly.
There are many, many people who live in wonderful neighborhoods all over S.C. that would disagree with you and they'd be right.
It's not a big town but rather a small city and it's going to have all of the problems that any city has.

[rimmerama]

Originally Posted by jaijai

Yeah, Santa Cruz has it's problems and there are quite a few homeless people (which, btw, can speak well of a community ... that there is more tolerance for the marginalized and less fear and disdain) but to make such a generalization and call it a dump is just silly.
There are many, many people who live in wonderful neighborhoods all over S.C. that would disagree with you and they'd be right.
It's not a big town but rather a small city and it's going to have all of the problems that any city has.

Born and raised, buddy. However, I was fortunate enough to grow up in Aptos.

[MtnSurfer]

Another consideration already brought up are sub neighborhoods - areas which are better or worse in one particular city/town. I've visited many cities across the US even smaller than Capitola to huge urban jungles like LA. I also worked as Real Estate appraiser. So knowing sub neighborhoods was a part of my job. And in most cases there are indeed areas which are known to be nicer and hence more expensive.

The larger a city is typically the more pronouced the differences with a bad side of the tracks in some cases including red light districts. And in those areas crime is higher. In the case of Santa Cruz I could see this. With smaller cities/towns there is less of a distinction to the point where everything is pretty much the same. My home town of Hermosa Beach in SoCal was like this as well as Manhattan Beach right next door. Capitola is so small I'm not sure if there is much of a distinction between one part or the other. Although I haven't studied the neighborhoods enough to notice such differences if any.

With regards to tourist towns having higher crime rates I don't think that generalization really holds true. If you have visited much of our state for any length of time you will discover that most coastal cities attract a lot of tourists pure and simple. Yet their overall crime rates do not reflect this tourist effect. Take Carmel, Pacific Grove, Solvang, Manhattan Beach, Newport Beach, etc... and their crime is much, much lower. Simply having tourists alone really isn't a strong indicator of having higher crime for any given city/town.

Derek

[jaijai]

Originally Posted by rimmerama

Born and raised, buddy. However, I was fortunate enough to grow up in Aptos.

well that's nice.
would you like a little gold star for being "born and raised"?
it doesn't change anything i said about santa cruz.