who else wants to move out of Sacramento? (San Jose, Stockton: middle-class, house)

[KidBlue]

I thought it was just me who hates to drive in Sacramento. I drive for my job in San Jose, LA and other big cities, and I can't believe how mean Sacramento drivers are. I even had one almost run me over (I was in a cross walk on foot at the time), come to a screetching halt, and then threaten to beat me up because I was afraid to cross in front of his car. Yikes!

[hairmetal4ever]

Originally Posted by leavingcali

Thank you so much for responding. I would love more info on CT. Do you live there or in Sac? Is it humid? I need a job teaching English at the college level and my husband is in the medical field--are those doable there? What are the people like?

I like New England, you'd do fine in both your fields there.

Allow me to plug Ohio for a second. All of the big Ohio cities can serve you well too, summers in the 80s to 90s, humid, yes, but short, by September it's cooling off. Winters are cold, esp. by your standards, but nothing earth-shattering. There are a LOT of Universities in Ohio you could teach at.

Also, average home price is about $161,000.

[fbcobrn]

Originally Posted by leavingcali

Who's with me? Actually, it isn't just Sacramento that I want to get a way from, but CA in general.

Hear ya, there. Actually I'm much closer to reality than you. I should be in Montana by the end of 2007. I live south of Sac in Oakley for now (hope to start getting house built in Montana this month).
Can you say 116' during the summer....for weeks?
Traffic????? HiWay 4 is a parking lot.
Politics??? the east bay is too politically correct and liberal for my tastes.
Grew up in Lafayette, lived in Oakley and Antioch for 36 years, and will not miss here. The heat, the dust, the traffic; Most of my familty is dead, husbands fam spread all over east and west usa.
Montana is beautiful and Missoula, north of our future area, has both a University and major Medical facilities. Short drive to Canada, Idaho, and Oregon Coast. Look there in your geographic travels. Good luck.

[Dennis P]

Originally Posted by penu

I took a job in Sac four years ago, and now live in Roseville. I swear that drivers are worse by the day. Since I've been here, I've had drivers, usually on the 80 want to fight. It's weird. Last time, just last week, was a guy near the theaters in Roseville. Tailgating, pulling up to my side, then flipping me off, and then a hand in a fist. I've since found out that that's a "let's fight" signal. Once he put his SUV in park, I told my girlfriend to call 911. He thought better of the situation after he saw our phone. Nuts. Nobody lets you in. I truly hate it.

I've lived in San Jose and San Diego most of my life, and have never seen drivers on the road like Sacramento. Driving is just never fun any more. My girlfriend's son just got his license, and I just don't know how he's going to handle these situations when they happen to him.

Anyone else have this happen to them??

Boy, I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed a difference in driving behavior between Northern Californians vs. Southern Californians. The first thing I noticed was not very many Sacto drivers use their turn signals (when making turns or changing lanes - one of my pet peeves ). Also, when changing lanes, if they see an empty place in the next lane, they'll just whip right into that spot without seeing if there's anyone in their blind spot---not to mention not using their turn signals. I used to get cut off like this on a regular basis, especially on the I-80 over the top of town. When I lived up there, I could remember reading an article in the Sacramento Bee about the way people drive. A police official was quoted as saying something to the effect of, "Sacramento isn't a small town anymore. WE ARE A CITY!" Reading that just cracked me up so much, I almost choked on my cereal.

Yeah, you REALLY take your life in your hands when driving in and around Sacramento.

[Guingirl]

Honestly, it has gotten REALLY bad the last few years because of the influx of bay area people. I am a native and I swear there are a lot of people that have NO idea of what personal space is in and out of a car.

I have had a few coworkers that I have driven with that I swear they don't understand the concept, if you can't see there back tires....

[AvoidIdaho]

I don't know exactly where you should move because our family is wondering the same thing, but I'd like to give advice about Idaho and the East Coast:

Don't move to Idaho. I lived in the Coeur d'Alene area for over a decade and they despise Californians and paranoidly blame them for rising prices even though local land developers / resort owners are a big part of the problem. They're also far too conservative for me to ever tolerate.

As for Connecticut being more conservative than California, it clearly depends where you're talking about. Maybe in general they're more conservative than the lovely San Francisco, but if we're talking about Sacramento, that is definitely not true. I see Bush stickers and "marriage = one man + one woman" stickers and anti-abortion stickers everywhere I turn in Sacramento, whereas same-sex civil unions are legal in Connecticut and they have that whole New England liberal vibe going on However, we actually tried moving to New England (western Massachusetts or Connecticut) and found that housing was out of our range, jobs were scarce for the electrical industry, and, basically, housing is really hit or miss - you either live in the middle of nowhere somewhere expensive or you live in a larger town that often has crimbe problems (read: Waterbury, CT). Connecticut is definitely not the picturesque place they show on TV. Maybe in Mystic, CT. But not for a lot of other areas.

That being said, I love the political vibe of New England and really appreciate Northampton, MA for its funky folk scene and boutiques. Boston is a fun city too, although highly expensive ;(

[AvoidIdaho]

crime problems*, that is.

[Guingirl]

Apart from SF and LA, the majority of the eastern part of the state is more conservative. If you look at the secretary of states website, you can see the county by county breakdown. Sacramento is more liberal than say Placer. Although that is changing from all the people moving up from the Bay Area.

The problem with the growth up here, specifically Roseville, is that they built out and had a plan, but they really never got the transportation plan together with the federal funds they needed. SACOG has a great blueprint that they are touting, but honestly, to me it doesn't really address the amount of people that have migrated here for transportation.

[looking4home]

Guingirl is right! Stay away from South Placer County - it's bad and it's only gonna get worse. It's now over 105,000 in population, and they have just added a new area into the city, which will bring the population to near 150,000. Who need that? The traffic situation is so incredibly bad that it will one day end up on 20/20, or a CNN special report! Their only solution is to tax residents, and even with that, you are looking at relief down the road in maybe 10 or 15 years.

The local politicans are corrupt, always on the take from developers, so there is no way to help solve any problems. Yes, they have this "Blueprint" but what good is it if they keep increasing housing densities and re-zoning farmland? They just pretend to go along with "smart growth" principles to keep the Sierra Club off their back.

[MoMark]

I recommend the Midwest,especially Missouri. It's extremely inexpensive, incredibly beautiful, unspoiled believe it or not, four season climate (I'm wrapped in a sweatsuit encased in a blanket as I write this as it's cold today), people are friendly and neighborly, crime is low outside Kansas City and St. Louis, and houses are a give-away. I am a native Californian, lived in the Central Valley growing up, then later in Modesto, then the Bay Area where I stayed until 2000 because of my job when I moved to Las Vegas. Las Vegas I loved, but...it's not where I wanted to be longterm and as property prices skyrocketed, I saw my chance for escaping to the Midwest. I did. I bought a custom brick 2300 sq. ft. home on 4.3 park like acres where the house sits in the middle of the property about six miles in the country outside of Springfield for $227K with cash from the LV sale. Although I find some weeks in the winter tough, it passes quickly and snow rarely stays more than a week. Kids actually play here and people walk along the roads and wave at you as you go by. Taxes are low, schools good, lots of churches, and it's a pretty vibrant economic area.