Moving to California, confused! (Sacramento: places to live, safe, farm)

[jaijai]

I'm no forum angel but i try not to hijack a thread for my own "fun" and / or my own personal agenda.
The woman just wants to know where she might find the most appropriate community and y'all turn it into a political / religious argument.

[WesternPilgrim]

Originally Posted by jaijai

I'm no forum angel but i try not to hijack a thread for my own "fun" and / or my own personal agenda.
The woman just wants to know where she might find the most appropriate community and y'all turn it into a political / religious argument.

I hope that my comments were helpful to the original poster. There are 51 chapters of ACT for America in California. Anti-Islamist sentiment is strong here.

Certainly, as a Catholic, I would want to know whether anti-Catholic sentiment is prevalent in a place I was considering moving to. That's relevant information.

Anyway, if the OP truly doesn't believe in any of that nasty sharia or jihad stuff, she'll be just fine.

[dclamb3]

Originally Posted by tstieber

Major overgeneralization. All truly urban parts of California have decent public transportation. That means pretty much the entire city of San Francisco of course, and also Oakland and Berkeley, but also some parts of Los Angeles and San Diego. The stereotype of SoCal being uniquely car-centric is overblown, because pretty much the entire United States is relatively suburban and therefore car-centric. It's a question of urban vs suburban really. Stick to highly urbanized parts, and you'll be okay.

I agree and disagree. Of course any urban area will have public transportation, but the quality must be taken into consideration. Full disclaimer: I've lived in DC, and have spent a lot of time in NYC, so my bar is set high. I tried to base my opinion on CA transit in comparison to one another, and not to DC or NYC, which wouldn't be fair.

Of course LA has public transportation, as does San Diego, and any other major city. I know they have public transportation, I've used both. But I wouldn't classify either as being high quality in the public transportation department, or highly walkable outside of specific areas.

You can obviously live just about anywhere without a car. My mother currently lives in a tiny remote town of 300 people without a car and gets a ride to the city in the next state to see a doctor. Not that SoCal is that bad, but you get my drift. You can live anywhere without a car. I was simply pointing out which of the major cities in CA I thought had the best walkability and public transit for someone without a car.

Typically, not always, areas with high walk scores have the best public transportation. Since you'll be without a car, check out walkscore.com, if you haven't already.

San Fran (walk score 85)
San Francisco Rentals, Apartments, and Neighborhoods on Walk Score

LA (walk score 66)
Los Angeles Rentals, Apartments, and Neighborhoods on Walk Score

San Diego (walk score 56)
San Diego Rentals, Apartments, and Neighborhoods on Walk Score

Of course there will be pockets in any city that are more walkable than other areas (check out the neighborhood section of that same site).

And, while LA is rated as more walkable and has more public transportation that San Diego, I'd actually feel safer on San Diego's public transportation. Personal opinion, of course.

[dclamb3]

Originally Posted by Wing Feathers

I'm guessing you haven't spent much time in downtown Los Angeles? Sure they have buses, but...

Exactly. Eeek! I grew up in Baltimore, and even I didn't feel safe on LA transit.

[WesternPilgrim]

Originally Posted by Wing Feathers

The same members who have no shame bashing religion all over this site - are now coddling Islam in this thread. Big LOL at the hypocrisy.

Good call, Wing Feathers.

[Diala80]

I am very grateful to those who tried to help with me with my queries, but at the same time have been put off by the pathetic ignorance of some members . Simply I was asking about places to live, and didn't even mention what my Religion was to start with. You do not know anything about me, so you simply cannot judge me or my Religion, as I chose to not judge all Americans based on the comments made by some ignorant people.
I have only joined the forum yesterday, and was extremely excited about finding a such a useful tool and that was my very first post!
Anyway thanks again!

[jaijai]

Originally Posted by Diala80

I am very grateful to those who tried to help with me with my queries, but at the same time have been put off by the pathetic ignorance of some members . Simply I was asking about places to live, and didn't even mention what my Religion was to start with. You do not know anything about me, so you simply cannot judge me or my Religion, as I chose to not judge all Americans based on the comments made by some ignorant people.
I have only joined the forum yesterday, and was extremely excited about finding a such a useful tool and that was my very first post!
Anyway thanks again!

Don't let a few posters like that scare you away and arguing with or challenging them never bears fruit (i've learned that from experience).
Also, don't forget the sub-forums.
If you're interested in any particular area, they can be more beneficial.
So if you're considering, for example, San Francisco or Irvine (Orange County), etc., post in the appropriate sub-forum for, most likely, more specific and useful information.
The San Francisco bay area is one of the most (i think the most) tolerant and open minded parts of California with people from all over the world and with a rich history of tolerance and openness and liberal (politically and otherwise) "mind sets".
The weather is not as nice as it is in Southern California but it's a wonderful part of the coast and San Francisco is a beautiful city.
It's expensive however but most of the coast of CA is. But if you can find an affordable rental in San Francisco or even Berkeley, you might be pleased.

[WesternPilgrim]

Originally Posted by Diala80

You do not know anything about me, so you simply cannot judge me or my Religion, as I chose to not judge all Americans based on the comments made by some ignorant people.

No one is judging you, Diala80. Please. But you said that you are a Muslim, and the tenets of your religion exist apart from whatever else you might believe. Your religious beliefs will impact your happiness when you settle amongst the people of a particular place.

In California you will do your best with single people under 25 who were raised on "multiculturalism", the idea that all cultures are equal and their specific contents don't matter, except when they do ... well, it gets kind of confusing. Bottom line is that these kids don't remember much about 9/11, don't really keep up with world events, don't have any religious beliefs of their own, and certainly have never studied Islam except in a very controlled "multicultural" setting that never says anything negative about any religion other than Christianity. They are also bored, so they like pretty much anything that seems exotic.

Jaijai thinks you'll like the Bay Area. Well, that depends on how good a Muslim you are. I'll just leave it at that.

[mysticaltyger]

Originally Posted by tstieber

Major overgeneralization. All truly urban parts of California have decent public transportation. That means pretty much the entire city of San Francisco of course, and also Oakland and Berkeley, but also some parts of Los Angeles and San Diego. The stereotype of SoCal being uniquely car-centric is overblown, because pretty much the entire United States is relatively suburban and therefore car-centric. It's a question of urban vs suburban really. Stick to highly urbanized parts, and you'll be okay.

Well said. In general, though, it's tough to live in most parts of California without a car, although this is also true for the U.S. as a whole.

[dclamb3]

Originally Posted by jaijai

Don't let a few posters like that scare you away and arguing with or challenging them never bears fruit (i've learned that from experience).
Also, don't forget the sub-forums.
If you're interested in any particular area, they can be more beneficial.
So if you're considering, for example, San Francisco or Irvine (Orange County), etc., post in the appropriate sub-forum for, most likely, more specific and useful information.
The San Francisco bay area is one of the most (i think the most) tolerant and open minded parts of California with people from all over the world and with a rich history of tolerance and openness and liberal (politically and otherwise) "mind sets".
The weather is not as nice as it is in Southern California but it's a wonderful part of the coast and San Francisco is a beautiful city.
It's expensive however but most of the coast of CA is. But if you can find an affordable rental in San Francisco or even Berkeley, you might be pleased.

jaijai speaks the truth on all of the above.

Just as extremists aren't an accurate representation of your faith, neither are the few salty people on this message board an accurate representation of this board, or more importantly, of any of these cities or states. Unfortunately, the extremists and saltier people have the bigger mouths.

Also, I truly believe that the anonymity of a keyboard gives some people permission to say things they'd never say in real life. I've been on the receiving end of this firsthand here on City-Data and was completely shocked as I've never heard someone talk to me that way in person. Ever.

Please don't let a few select sour grapes taint your view. My take: a few salty people on a message board of countless thousands isn't so bad. The salty ones sit around drooling for the opportunity to jump on a thread and spread their seed.

Also, remember that if you hadn't seen the feature yet, you can block posters so you don't see their messages. I was having what I thought was a healthy debate on the Politics board and encountered a few salty "trolls" (I think that's the internet term for it) that I decided to block myself so the thread I saw remained peaceful and productive.

To block someone's posts, in the top navigation, click "My Settings" > in the left navigation click "Edit Ignore List" > insert the user's name > click "Okay". And viola! Peace.

I have lived in the US all my life, and in CA for a very long time too. I can speak from my personal experience that the salty posters you see here are far from the majority in our country, or in California.

California has a reputation of being very progressive, and major cities are notoriously tolerant, with San Francisco being very well-known for it's open-mindedness and multi-culturalism.

I know that I didn't comment on where like-minded faith people as you might live, but that's because I'm not certain since you'll have to pick a city first and then the neighborhood will follow. What I do know is that most large cities tend to have a little slice of just about every culture, so pick a larger city and you should be just fine, and very happy. I'd avoid the small out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere towns. Small towns can sometimes equal small, intolerant minds.