Moved to Palmdale and I hate it (Santa Clarita, Lancaster: how much, schools)

[YoungTraveler2011]

Originally Posted by Howiester

OP, you dun goofed

lold

[YoungTraveler2011]

OP, u move from 1 crap hole to another.

You need to move to the midwest. srs.

[Chowhound]

Everything the OP did was wrong, down to the lack of research of the area and the moving without having a job lined up.... strange way of doing business. I couldn't imagine uprooting a kid without the proper investigation ahead of time. Very irresponsible on her part, as far as I'm concerned.

Needles is a craphole and so is most of the AV..... she just traded one crap hole for another.....

[Michelle_C31]

Originally Posted by Chowhound

Everything the OP did was wrong, down to the lack of research of the area and the moving without having a job lined up.... strange way of doing business. I couldn't imagine uprooting a kid without the proper investigation ahead of time. Very irresponsible on her part, as far as I'm concerned.

Needles is a craphole and so is most of the AV..... she just traded one crap hole for another.....

Whoah. Hold up a minute. First off, the job that was apparently set up for me is non existent, obviously. But because I don't enjoy putting my business out there on the internet for everyone, I hesitated to say that my parents are business owners. Business owners that I'm working a few days a week at. I didn't "lack" the research. I DID the research and all of my family convinced me that it's going to be fine.

The fact that I MOVED here with the intentions of having said job (not with my parents) and once it was nonexistent my family said "Oh well! Get over it!" I took the advice from my fsmily. I did all my research. I looked up the schools, I looked up the area and the crime. And despite all of my research, they CONVINCED me it's not that bad. Is it that bad? YES. It very much so is. Do you think I like my son going to an overcrowded school having to fight his way out of the gate to get to me so I can take him home? Absolutely not. Do you think I'm sitting here not trying to research other places, visit them and find jobs? No. Because my child comes first and so does his safety. Which is why I'm trying to get him out of here.

The fact that you're completely rude and assume my parenting is terrible or that I didn't do this or that is flat out rude and 100% wrong. Trust me. I'm not happy with my family steering me in the wrong direction with a lie to get me here. Every single day I am on this website and many others, to find a place for my child and myself that is the best for us. Not only for saftey, but for education and growth. If you had any idea of how I argue with a family member daily about how much I hate this place and they roll their eyes at me stating that I'm overreacting, you would understand what I go through on a daily basis. So please, don't throw that on me. Thanks.

[Michelle_C31]

Originally Posted by YoungTraveler2011

OP, u move from 1 crap hole to another.

You need to move to the midwest. srs.

Indeed I did. I'm originally from the Midwest, but my parents moved us from there to here (palmdale) when I was 7 and we left for a different town a few years later.

[Michelle_C31]

By the way, thank you for labeling my post section 8, low income. I've never lived in low income housing nor section 8. Thought this site about those who are inquiring information in cities and towns to relocate. Unfortunately, in this particular section, it's become obvious that after the first two pages of information, it did not show advice, yet assuming bad parenting and personal income.

Thanks.

[Chowhound]

Originally Posted by Michelle_C31

Whoah. Hold up a minute. First off, the job that was apparently set up for me is non existent, obviously. But because I don't enjoy putting my business out there on the internet for everyone, I hesitated to say that my parents are business owners. Business owners that I'm working a few days a week at. I didn't "lack" the research. I DID the research and all of my family convinced me that it's going to be fine.

The fact that I MOVED here with the intentions of having said job (not with my parents) and once it was nonexistent my family said "Oh well! Get over it!" I took the advice from my fsmily. I did all my research. I looked up the schools, I looked up the area and the crime. And despite all of my research, they CONVINCED me it's not that bad. Is it that bad? YES. It very much so is. Do you think I like my son going to an overcrowded school having to fight his way out of the gate to get to me so I can take him home? Absolutely not. Do you think I'm sitting here not trying to research other places, visit them and find jobs? No. Because my child comes first and so does his safety. Which is why I'm trying to get him out of here.

The fact that you're completely rude and assume my parenting is terrible or that I didn't do this or that is flat out rude and 100% wrong. Trust me. I'm not happy with my family steering me in the wrong direction with a lie to get me here. Every single day I am on this website and many others, to find a place for my child and myself that is the best for us. Not only for saftey, but for education and growth. If you had any idea of how I argue with a family member daily about how much I hate this place and they roll their eyes at me stating that I'm overreacting, you would understand what I go through on a daily basis. So please, don't throw that on me. Thanks.

When I read your intial post the way you worded some things made it sound like, to use your words, a "leap of faith" just came off like you didn't do any homework up front.

That's all I based my post on to you was how you worded things in the OP and again, on face value.

but now, I am so upset that I made this move based on a leap of faith. I left 2 jobs and an assumption that a job would be here when I moved, but that was completely the opposite. Now, I have no income, the cost of living here is OUTRAGEOUS and anything that's close to my mother in Palmdale is either a bad area or the cost of living is just as bad.

Can you see how someone might think you didn't do as much homework as needed based on the part of your OP that I quoted.

Anyway I hope things work out for the best. Don't want to see anyone fail unnecessarily.

[kttam186290]

I am familiar with both Needles (Colorado River Valley) and Palmdale (Antelope Valley) as I have relatives who live in both places. Brother lives in Palmdale and aunt lives in Laughlin, NV.

Needles is scorching hot from April through October! Palmdale starts to cool down in September and stays cool almost through June.

Needles and the Ft. Mohave/Bullhead/Laughlin area are definitely more Anglo and less diverse, with a small minority of Latinos.

If you like to gamble and like hot weather, Needles is probably your best bet, since it's surrounded by casinos in Nevada and Arizona. Needles, to me, is a "river town" in the desert. There is a certain culture of people that dwell there ("river rats") that are usually rough around the edges but generally good-natured. I also know, per my Aunt, that there is a lot of crime in the area, especially Bullhead City, with a lot of theft and break-ins due to widespread meth use. Palmdale had a bad meth epidemic in the 1990s, but it has tapered off quite a bit due to heavy law enforcement, churches and social service involvement. Needles doesn't often cool down in the evenings, whereas Palmdale does quite often. You'll sometimes feel that evening sea breeze coming over the San Gabriel Mountains to cool things off.

Palmdale and the area surrounding it are a little bit more scenic. You get rolling hills with juniper and joshua trees and snow-covered mountains. The best part of Palmdale/Lancaster is the area west of the 14 Freeway (93536 and 93551 zip codes). The Rancho Vista neighborhood in Palmdale and the Quartz Hill neighborhood in Lancaster are home to many policemen, teachers, doctors, nurses, aerospace workers, retirees, college professors and clinical professionals.

If you don't like Palmdale/Lancaster, there is always Quartz Hill, Acton, Tehachapi, Leona Valley, Lake Elizabeth and Rosamond, which are all very nice outlying areas with good schools. Lots of retired and active-duty military people living in Rosamond and Tehachapi.

I will not tell you that all of the Antelope Valley is nice, because it's not. Zip codes 93550 and 93535 should be avoided at all costs! These are located on the east side of the valley.

Lancaster/Palmdale are in transition right now. The area was hit hard during the recession and lots of foreclosures in the housing market, which drew in lots of undesirable people taking advantage of the Section 8 rental program (again, mainly on the east side). However, I have been told that the market for home sales is on the upswing and attracting many people who were priced out of Santa Clarita, Northridge, Simi Valley and those areas. Additionally, there have been an uptick in aerospace employment once more, which has drawn in lots of people from out-of-state to work at new aerospace projects at Palmdale's Plant 42 and Edwards Air Force Base. This new demand for housing by more upwardly-mobile people has had the effect of moving a lot of the riff-raff out of the area, as more investors are now evicting low-income tenants and selling homes back to working families again.

Life anywhere you go is what you make of it. If you complain and like drama, you will find it. If you can survive and thrive, you will!

Wherever you go, there you are.

[shars55]

We have lived here since 1996. Although I would not live here if I had a choice, it's not quite as bad as some people here would lead you to believe. (My husband was transferred here for his job) I live on the Westside, and what the previous poster said about nurses, policemen, aerospace workers, etc. living here is correct. Our neighborhood is filled with great people. There are a lot of scumbags who live in the valley, but its not as bad as people lead you to believe if you don't go wandering out late at night, or in the wrong part of town.

That being said, if you want a quieter life, you can try Tehachapi, but they also have some not so nice people there. We have friends who live there. It's not perfect, either. If anyone wants a better place to live, I think they have to leave the state, which is what we are going to do after my husband retires. Good luck!

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Seems that the Eastern parts of Santa Clarita, Agua Dulce and maaayyybe Acton would be a happy medium for someone who has to deal with family / business etc in Palmdale but does not actually want to live there. I suppose that may fall into the "look West" comments upthread but I took those comments to mean the Western part of A.V. not the Soledad Canyon and surrounds.