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Old 09-03-2013, 11:51 PM
 
65 posts, read 77,986 times
Reputation: 48

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles R Higgins View Post
Of the three Santa Cruz is most expensive and not by a little bit... UCSC and the Scotts Valley businesses as well as Plantronics, etc. are possible sources of employment as is the killer Route 17 commute to San Jose, etc... not much in the way of real jobs south of SC until you hit the 5 Cities/SLO area anyway...

SC is also more dangerous because unlike Santa Rosa (have a few old SC friends who are by now longtime SR residents), the random nature of relatively uncontrolled violent and property crimes in almost all neighborhoods at all hours in SC makes it difficult to provide safety and consistency while out and about with the fam and also provide a safe and relaxing school experience for your child... Santa Rosa has crime, sure- but it's both perceived and handled differently. Crucial distinction as it applies to quality of living...

Traffic in SR is generally more predictable and not usually as bad as SC... better infrastructure to match big traffic volume equals faster commute, etc. times.

See my previous two posts for more on the bait-and-switch that is the young family experience in SC... IMHO the winner would be SLO unless a particular deal-breaking job is in the offing in SR... summers are *hot* in SR/Petaluma but there are several scenic and relatively quick routes to the ocean from either town... lived in Point Reyes Station and went into Petaluma/Cotati/Rohnert Park/Santa Rosa frequently for shopping, supplies, eating, etc..

While all three have trade-offs, if decent work's possible in the five Cities/SLO area for you that might be the ticket... if you feel particularly lucky and really, really want to come into contact with surly homeless folks, Trustafarians driving old Mercedes diesel wagons like NYC taxis, Steamer Lane surfers on their day jobs in Tundra pickups in homicidal moods because they're not in the water and wannabe boho white kids with the world's worst tattoos and Silicon Valley commuters in Beemers cutting through traffic like Mario Andretti up Route 17 into San Jose, one of the most dangerous roads in CA your way to a real estate Open House where you'll share a look with several score other SC Pilgrims at a $675K 2BR 1B in a noisy, cramped neighborhood with students, surfers and addicts in the homes nearby, try SC out... but you'll likely be moving down the coast like us eventually. I know it sounds like I'm exaggerating. Unfortunately, I'm not.

Hope the OP will keep us posted (again no pun intended)! '^)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Charles R Higgins View Post
At 7:30 pm on a Monday night at a bus stop several miles from campus the UCSC student was shot in the back of the head by an assailant/robber with a rifle who had demanded money... miraculously the bullet didn't completely pierce her skull and she recovered. Never did catch the suspect, though...

Not too long before that a woman walking near downtown SC at 11:00 AM was knifed and killed by a criminal just down from SF apparently... they caught this one.

A martial-arts instructor was shot and killed outside an SC restaurant at his own birthday party one evening, rapes on the UCSC campus, a shootout with a double-cop-killer that lasted over 20 minutes near downtown have all combined, this year especially to provide an ongoing, ominous pattern of violent incidents, not just the petty property crimes for which SC has always been known... if you'd like, check my previous post for some other SC absurdities that are now depressingly familiar and common around here. The pretext SC loves to share with the world is that it's a safe, friendly, frisky little town full of weird lovable characters, surfers and students in one big square dance of happy Cali fun... the most dangerous thing a 'small town' can do is to promote an atmosphere of denial in the service of tourism. Look what it did for the fictional town of 'Amity' on Martha's Vineyard in 'Jaws', right? '^)

No one dislikes and regrets hating on SC more than me... I was born here in 1960 and have had some great, great times here. But Santa Cruz is not the place for fun, sun and kids to grow up in that it once was. If you're wealthy it's too crowded, dirty and small-time... if you're a criminal/gang member, a transient thief, a student, a tourist or a surfer who likes riding 3-foot swells on the most overrated break in North America, SC's still the place for you. Parent of a young child? I'd suggest looking elsewhere... unless you want to try and enjoy what's left of the fabled, world-famous 'Surf City' lifestyle with a little one to care for I recommend other places where safety isn't third. A small town with big-city problems is twice as dangerous especially for kids as a big city with big problems... because the focus of precious resources for law enforcement, urban planning and management, etc. are all in their infancy while the big-city problems like gangs, drugs, random street violence and rampant homelessness grow faster than anyone is willing to acknowledge let alone do anything about either in tactics or strategy... there is no workable 'plan' for SC's *present*, let alone future. And that fact has NOT been lost at all on predators, criminals, weirdos and scammers from all over the world let alone the state of California.

We'd love to continue enjoying Big Basin State Park, Henry Cowell Redwoods, all the beaches, the downtown, Aptos, Capitola, the mountain towns, restaurants and bookstores... but the whole town is a 'food desert', with little cuisine that cannot be eaten by a skinny student with a hangover and a Mastercard... the downtown is a maze of sticky body fluids, needles, surly homeless vagrants, overpriced tourist/student swag and spaced-out white locals with bad tattoos, low-paying service jobs and no disposable income. If we're going to put up with big-city problems, we'd live in San Jose, SF, the East Bay or LA and have those cities' scale, diversity and depth as productive and enjoyable counterbalances... but we came back to the SC area with a young child for another type of experience, NOT the big-city (my wife and I spent many years in NYC) one... now we have to navigate, plan and behave as if SC IS a dangerous and expensive place, because it's become a traffic-clogged, scummy mid-sized CA coastal town with wishful thinking as its foolproof plan to solve all its problems going forward. SC has never been Mayberry, and we expected to be dealing with doses of all these issues as we would with almost any 50k+ population CA city... but the schizophrenic nature of SC now has worn us down... just when we begin to relax like we want to, some jarring reminder that we can't live like that around here shuffles around the corner and tries to defecate on our car in the driveway (true story). What good are 'city reflexes' when you are trying to relax with your young family in a town that won't let you put your 'city-guard' down at least a little? Hence our decision to move to the more low-key environs of the Five Cities/SLO area. We always lock our doors and stay alert everywhere but at least we won't have to wonder every morning when we wake up what fresh new piece of hell is going to jump off that day. At least in the city we'd be able to fall back on what great resources we know are there for the taking, day or night, rain or shine. Living in SC in a nice West Side neighborhood a half-mile from the beach and trying our best to enjoy all the local resources and activities isn't sufficient comfort to make up for dealing with all the SC bull every day.

I guess that's what happens when a town gets smug & complacent and then decides to go without 'adult supervision' for too long. More's the pity. Our small family is gone from here to the Five Cities/SLO area as soon as possible and we'll miss our little rituals... but we won't miss the lie that SC tries portray itself as to the world and tries to pawn off on its residents- young, old, rich, poor, educated, homeless, gang-affiliated, artists, surfers, fun-hogs or parents of children of all ages... 'we're a small town with small, simple problems! Ignore what you see, hear and read have fun!... we are Surf City and we are immune to reality!' Um, no. WanderingSunDevil, try SC at your own risk... but remember, its problems are larger than they appear in the mirror.

truth
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Old 09-05-2013, 10:21 AM
 
30 posts, read 86,569 times
Reputation: 27
Hey Charles R Higgins, it sounds like you would really like Morro Bay or Los Osos. They are probably much more like SC was back in the day than the five cities area.
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Old 09-06-2013, 11:47 AM
 
Location: Monterey, CALIFORNIA
211 posts, read 372,553 times
Reputation: 185
Theyre all great spots. I think if I had to move from Monterey to one of those cities it would be Santa Rosa. Sonoma County is beautiful and is full of interesting people who create and everything is fresh, local, organce. I love it!
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Old 09-19-2013, 02:07 PM
 
Location: Overlooking the vineyards, olive groves, cattle and horses in the hills of San Miguel CA
167 posts, read 335,039 times
Reputation: 253
Default Morro Bay/Los Osos...

Quote:
Originally Posted by shemp View Post
Hey Charles R Higgins, it sounds like you would really like Morro Bay or Los Osos. They are probably much more like SC was back in the day than the five cities area.

I can definitely see what you mean... Morro Bay/Los Osos areas look awesome... so far no replies to our e-mail inquiries on SLO area Craigslist from either area yet and no responses yet to our SLO Craigslist Housing Wanted post. We'll keep trying!
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Old 09-19-2013, 10:20 PM
 
9,523 posts, read 30,419,594 times
Reputation: 6435
SLO area is paradise to me. Santa Rosa is nice but there are many small inland cities that are comparable in SoCal or central CA and are nicer. Santa Cruz too hippy/druggie for my taste ... If you want CA beaches, north county SD has terrific air quality.
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Old 06-22-2014, 03:51 PM
 
Location: northern California
39 posts, read 86,178 times
Reputation: 37
Where did the OP end up moving?
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