San Luis Obispo... Pros and Cons (Santa Barbara, Atascadero: apartment, renter, neighborhood)

[.highnlite]

Originally Posted by slo1318

Wine/grape growing is a cultural phenomenon more than farming/food need. Although farming is necessary to produce grapes. Coastal California is a unique environment for grape growing, SLO county is no different. It is a tourist draw and creates a specific culture. That can be a good thing if you are in to it. The undeniable good point is that it creates jobs and allows people to sustain themselves. Even shipping product to other parts of the country/world. I always look in the stores here for central coast wines.
You could scrutinize any industry and ask the question; 'whats so good about it?'.

My statement reflects my position that what you consider a good thing, jobs and more people, is to me, a negative. Remember that most of the vineyard workers are illegals.

[slo1318]

Originally Posted by .highnlite

My statement reflects my position that what you consider a good thing, jobs and more people, is to me, a negative. Remember that most of the vineyard workers are illegals.

I'd love to see California go back to 1970 population levels and I know what you are saying, but the cats out of the bag. The only thing keeping Slo county from exploding in growth is the cost of living and growth control measures by local government.
btw; I have no problem with the vineyard workers, but there are levels of employment in the wine industry.

[.highnlite]

Originally Posted by slo1318

I'd love to see California go back to 1970 population levels and I know what you are saying, but the cats out of the bag. The only thing keeping Slo county from exploding in growth is the cost of living and growth control measures by local government.
btw; I have no problem with the vineyard workers, but there are levels of employment in the wine industry.

If Caltrans would stop fixing the darned roads, that would be a help.

Lack of water is the big non ideological limit to growth.

[slo1318]

Originally Posted by .highnlite

If Caltrans would stop fixing the darned roads, that would be a help.

Lack of water is the big non ideological limit to growth.

Blow the bridges!
Well, we probably both know that water is a very convenient limit to growth.....

[.highnlite]

Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner is well worth reading.

[trixie09]

Originally Posted by CoastalCali

To the person who originally posted the original question about SLO, could you please summarize your findings? I would love to know what the pros and cons are for living in the area that you found. You posted that many people sent you private messages, so it would be great if you could share some of those comments.

My husband and I are strongly considering moving to SLO, but our main concern is the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Plant. I am so surprised with all of the many comments on this thread, that only one person seemed to mention this as a big concern. Living about 11 miles from a nuclear power plant, to me, seems more of a concern than a lack of a Nordstroms.

But, I would love to hear more from the people of SLO County about their feelings on the nuclear plant. How do you feel about it being so close? Does it affect you at all? Is it a concern for you?

When I did research on the plant, especially when I watched a documentary made by PBS titled "Could a Fukushima-style disaster happen at one of California's nuclear power plants?”, I became very concerned about the safety of this plant. Basically, USGS recently found a new fault line just offshore from the plant, and it was concluded that if a quake happens on this new fault line it is possible it could be greater than a 7.5 magnitude quake which is the amount that current plant is safely built for. Now, I know the chances are incredibly slim, but the fact that PG & E wouldn’t even comment on this when PBS requested an interview didn’t make me feel more secure about this. Our other concern is that if we bought a home in the area and a problem did occur, I am pretty sure you cannot buy any kind of insurance that will protect your home’s value in case of a nuclear disaster.

Right now, Diablo Canyon is the only plant I know of on the California Coast as San Onofre was recently shut down due to safety concerns. PG & E runs such a tight ship, that I don’t see that plant ever being shut down unless there was a serious problem. All monitoring of the plant for safety is done by PG&E personnel, although it is, of course, inspected periodically by other regulatory agencies.

Despite these concerns about the plant and the lack of work, we are still considering a move to SLO as it has a lot of what we are looking for: a happy, relaxed feel, great outdoors opportunities, fantastic beaches, a great university nearby to keep the town liberal, a good sense of community, friendly people, weather that seems consistently to be around 70 degrees, laid back, little or no traffic, small town feel, good schools.

Also, rather than living in SLO, we are preferring Cayucas or Arroyo Grande or possibly Pismo Beach to eventually buy a home in. I am not a city person, and I prefer to have a home that feels like it is really relaxed or away from a downtown area.

I am very happy to have found this site, and I hope that some of you locals may be able to provide some more insight on SLO... Thank you!

Hi!
I have a long comment earlier in this thread, probably half-way through. I think it's a pretty fair representation of living on the Central Coast. When I first moved there, in the late 80s, I was freaked out by the idea of a nuclear power plant. But the longer I lived there, and knew more about it, I wasn't that concerned. I'm was more concerned when I found out about the active volcano 90 miles from where I moved to. At least I know that there are staff onsite at Diablo, trained to thwart any issues, and have a plan if that doesn't work. Volcanoes are not so cordial.

You did mention lack of work. Here is the thing... many of the folks that post on City Data are retired, or haven't actively looked for work in a while. You are right to be concerned about work. While the housing market has it's own issues (expensive for what you get, and frankly very very little inventory -- like only 40 homes for sale in one town,) the job market is problematic.

Yes, there are a handful of companies that have sprung up and tend to hire often: Shopatron, MindBody, etc. But from what I've seen, the majority of vibrant companies here have a strange demographic for their employees: 25 year old white females from Cal Poly. You look at the LInkedIn pages for most of the SLO companies that hire, and it's like a sorority scrapbook. Cal Poly is also a major employer, but it does help to have someone on the inside (and a degree from Poly, too.) But the majority of companies appear to be owned and run by men in their 50s who mostly hire girls half their age. One company, who shall remain nameless, has a video on their site about the "corporate culture." It starts with a 20 something guy roller blading through the office, then shots of the workers playing with hula hoops, and shooting nerf guns over the cubicles. Wonder if the adults at these companies realize how much more productive they could be by actually having people working there? So unless you're 24 and can play hackey sack, the job market is problematic. I don't see this in other areas. I do look at LinkedIn profiles for companies in other coastal regions (like Ventura and Monterey,) and they seem to have a good mix of ages and races in their employee pools.

If either you or your husband are in the medical field, then it should be much easier to find work. Do know that the pay in SLO County is around 1990s level for the majority of companies. You see positions that would pay $45k in nearby counties, paying 30k here. Not suggesting you don't move to SLO, but take as much time as you need to really figure out the job market, as it's really unique. There are jobs, but most of them seem geared toward recent grads who are willing to work for less money, and whose culture doesn't welcome anyone over 35.

[Senno]

Originally Posted by trixie09

One company, who shall remain nameless, has a video on their site about the "corporate culture." It starts with a 20 something guy roller blading through the office, then shots of the workers playing with hula hoops, and shooting nerf guns over the cubicles. Wonder if the adults at these companies realize how much more productive they could be by actually having people working there? So unless you're 24 and can play hackey sack, the job market is problematic. I don't see this in other areas.

There are jobs, but most of them seem geared toward recent grads who are willing to work for less money, and whose culture doesn't welcome anyone over 35.

In my 20's we didn't have those high fallutin fancy toys, we played hole punch confetti bombing over the walls of the cubicles.

Those over 35 (mostly known as the responsible type) were in their private offices being supervisors or managers (or in their cubes tossing bombs back)....

I think the cause of this was the relaxing of corporate culture from suits and ties to casual Friday. Slippery slope right into nerf guns, hackey sacks and roller blades. Wonder when naked Wednesday will hit?

They (the responsible types) knew we got work done by the billable hours produced and files closed. So they let the natives play a bit...

[darlula]

We plan on relocating from Washington state at first i thought slo then it seemed only old people and college kids live there plus i heard its expensive so now were thinking Grover i just hope were making the right decision

[.highnlite]

Compared to SLO Grover is a dump. Compared to most towns people choose to live in, Grover is a dump.

That said, what is it that you like to do? Are you golfers, sailors, mountain bikers, fishermen, hikers, horsemen, road bikers, motorcyclists? Tell me what you do in your spare time, and I can help you choose your location.

That said, if you like malls and shopping and 300 channels on your TV, it makes no difference where you live.

[ccm123]

SLO has a small town feel and there is rarely traffic congestion. The surrounding areas are beautiful.