Tell me about Sacramento (Palm Springs, Delano: rent to own, HOA, insurance)

[caligirlz]

Originally Posted by bluevelo

Yeah - it gets you a house surrounded by Section 8 gangbangers. Housing regardless of where you are in California is a ripoff. The downside of diversity is you have a lot more thugs and poor people living off the dole who refuse to work here. And, that's way too much to pay for a house for what little you get here for it.

Such a bummer to be so unhappy....

[citymama]

spent my college years in midtown and it had a such a great vibe that the others already mentioned. I wouldn't want to raise my kids there, the schools leave a lot to be desired, but I love visiting when we go back to visit my family who all still live there. I grew up in the arden area not too far from midtown and is was a nice, safe, somewhat diverse place to live.

I honestly think that SAC is too congested, smoggy and dirty. I know there are beautiful places close by, but aesthetics of the day to day life are not good, imo. (aside from midtown-- the trees, old homes, and Mckinley Park are soothing and pleasing to live among)

[bluevelo]

Originally Posted by caligirlz

Such a bummer to be so unhappy....

I've lived all over the US, and aside from the weather, you don't get much for your money in California, and the state's generous welfare system has ended up, in conjunction with Prop 13, in destroying the school system and squeezing the middle class out of the state as it looks more and more like Brazil every day - gated communities of the rich with their private schools and nothing for anyone else that actually wants to work, and not have the tax money used for billionaire arena subsidies and being given to whomever rich liberals define as "the poor".

[ryuns]

Originally Posted by bluevelo

I've lived all over the US, and aside from the weather, you don't get much for your money in California, and the state's generous welfare system has ended up, in conjunction with Prop 13, in destroying the school system and squeezing the middle class out of the state as it looks more and more like Brazil every day - gated communities of the rich with their private schools and nothing for anyone else that actually wants to work, and not have the tax money used for billionaire arena subsidies and being given to whomever rich liberals define as "the poor".

Except for the part where crime has almost consistently decreased for the last 20 years, private school enrollment is decreasing (Charter school enrollment climbs in Sacramento region as private schools lose students - Education - The Sacramento Bee ), and, to my knowledge, few of the nicest neighborhood in Sac area are gated, with the exception of Gold River.

I do like your one sentence paragraph though. Had me thinking I was reading Ulysses for a second there.

[bluevelo]

Originally Posted by ryuns

Except for the part where crime has almost consistently decreased for the last 20 years, private school enrollment is decreasing (Charter school enrollment climbs in Sacramento region as private schools lose students - Education - The Sacramento Bee ), and, to my knowledge, few of the nicest neighborhood in Sac area are gated, with the exception of Gold River.

I do like your one sentence paragraph though. Had me thinking I was reading Ulysses for a second there.

For one, do you actually believe the crime stats reported by the media, or gov't? I don't. We have a lot more people and a lot less police - and we are told by the police that "we don't have enough resources to deal with petty crime" so a lot of stuff goes unreported.

Charter schools are appearing because public schools are continuing to fail and decline - not just here in California, but nationally, and that's due to the ghetto attitudes that permeating our society more than anything.

[Mr. Opinionated]

Originally Posted by rpc1

I'm from Portland; born and raised. I've only been in Sac for four months, so I don't know the city real well, but I can vouch that it's a night-and-day different place, when compared to Portland. First, and most importantly, the weather here is awesome. With everything in me, I want to move back home. But I just can't do the gloomy, rainy, overcast weather for six months a year. (I've been living in L.A. for the last 2.5 years). It really has altered my mood completely....

Sac doesn't have any hang-out spots whatsoever, though. There are entire districts in Portland that are more or less devoted to being social, like Hawthorne and Belmont. In fact, there's really nothing in this city, in terms of cool places to hang out. It's really just a big collection of suburbs. And people here are super ordinary, which is neither good or bad, but is something to consider. And like you, I can't handle the whiteness of Oregon, so the diversity of Sac is another welcome change. ...Sacramento's a government town, and there's just nothing here. But rent is super cheap, compared to L.A. I just think that you could find sunshine in more exciting cities than Sac. ...There's just nothing going on. I'd check out San Diego, if I were you...

I edited your comment to fit how I also see Sacramento, aside from the constant claims of 'diversity', which according to Merriam-Webster is merely "the inclusion of different types of people of different races or cultures in a group or organization." That just means that ethnically, there are different kinds of people living here than you might find in Portland, which speaks nothing to me about whether the intercultural quality of life is better in Sacramento or not. I think not. There are even large numbers of interracial couples here, and that is really cool. I guess it depends on where you live, but the detached indifference is amazing to me. The cultural intolerance is still apparent. Sacramento as California's Capitol may not be visually as white as Portland. But it is definitely the preferred social standard.

[CeJeH]

Originally Posted by Mr. Opinionated

I edited your comment to fit how I also see Sacramento, aside from the constant claims of 'diversity', which according to Merriam-Webster is merely "the inclusion of different types of people of different races or cultures in a group or organization." That just means that ethnically, there are different kinds of people living here than you might find in Portland, which speaks nothing to me about whether the intercultural quality of life is better in Sacramento or not. I think not. There are even large numbers of interracial couples here. I guess it depends on where you live, but the detached indifference is amazing to me. The cultural intolerance is still apparent but played down. Sacramento as California's Capitol may not be visually as white as Portland. But it is definitely the preferred social standard.

I think this is true for a lot of the Northeast suburbs in the area, but for the city itself and immediate suburbs I think this is certainly not true. The city is very diverse and mixed both racially and ethnically. The reputation we have comes mostly from the general lack of segregation in the city. Places like LA are very diverse as well, but the difference is that LA is much more segregated than Sacramento. The Northeast suburbs once you get past Carmichael are much Whiter and more segregated than the rest of the Valley, but Sacramento and Elk Grove are much more mixed and diverse.

Downtown/Midtown is the melting pot where everything comes together. No offense to the poster you quoted, but he later admitted that he lives in Orangevale and has never even been to the grid before! I would think Sacramento was incredibly dull and boring as well if my entire knowledge of the city consisted of Orangevale, Antelope, and Elk Grove. It's not really fair to judge the character of a city based solely on it's suburbs, let alone a sleepy, upper-middle-class, White, semi-rural suburb such as Orangevale.

That would be like moving to Oregon City and assuming that it was a solid representation of Portland.

[wburg]

It all depends on where you go, but Sacramento is a lot more integrated than many other American cities. If you go out into the suburbs, the picture changes dramatically. Here's a link to a newly updated "Racial Dot Map" that lets you zoom in anywhere in the country.

The Racial Dot Map: One Dot Per Person for the Entire U.S.

Zooming in on Sacramento shows some areas that are less integrated for others, but a lot of the city is a smear of multicolored dots. Especially on the East Coast, many cities are much more pronounced in their segregation at the neighborhood level. It's a little disorienting to look at a map like this without familiar landmarks, until you look around: one thing that jumps out is a large number of green dots (Black population) near Folsom--that's the prison. Otherwise, most of the "favored quarter" suburbs are very predominantly White, but there are enclaves here and there--mostly the parts of Arden-Arcade and Old Roseville that people are told to stay away from when considering a move to Sacramento.

[caligirlz]

Originally Posted by GTFO

A) I am pretty liberal, but also didn't like too liberal of a vibe, too many unproductive hippy wannabes.
B) Conversely, the burbs are very conservative and u start seeing dirty ass pickup trucks rocking confederate flags like new sneakers once u go 5 miles out.
C) I like racial diversity so I don't like all that "uptightness, scared of minorities" typa bs mindset. I'm Russian btw. Seems like Sacramento is very diverse, and I like that.
D) What's the vibe like?
Appreciate the input.

Not sure what happened to the OP, but... I really got a good laugh over the points I listed.
A) Welcome to California!!! We have lots of unproductive wannabes- occupy this, welfare, disabled, homeless and young people who want what their parents have NOW-types...all want what you have without working for it, and California gives it to them.
B) we definitely have lots of these even in Sactown and not just the 'burbs! You may see the trucks in the burbs, but I think they actually live in Sacramento!! Sacramento is #8 on the list (of 10) US cowboy Meccas.
C) plenty of diversity here. In other thread, it has been pointed out as a misguided generalization that all whites are scared of minorities and consider them to be ghetto.
D) We are a very opinionated people.

Welcome!

[ryuns]

Originally Posted by bluevelo

For one, do you actually believe the crime stats reported by the media, or gov't? I don't. We have a lot more people and a lot less police - and we are told by the police that "we don't have enough resources to deal with petty crime" so a lot of stuff goes unreported.

Charter schools are appearing because public schools are continuing to fail and decline - not just here in California, but nationally, and that's due to the ghetto attitudes that permeating our society more than anything.

Do I believe them more than the intuition of someone on the internet who is constantly complaining about ghetto thugs? Yes. Yes, I do. There are a lot of crimes that go unreported, but I have no reason to suspect it's less now than before. Heck, I can report a crime online now. Couldn't do that 20 years ago.

I find the decrease in crime quite intriguing. It's the subject of rigorous research and debate. The Economist had a great cover story about it a few weeks back. (It should be noted that no one who actually studies this ever chalks it up to poor reporting or the government pulling the wool over our eyes. You can "not report" a break-in, and you can reclassify an aggravated assault, but it's much harder to pretend a murder didn't happen.) One interesting thing is that police can do a lot more with less. So some of their public relations failings, like ignoring more petty crime and heavily triaging 911 responses, are actually fact-driven efforts to focus on larger crimes.

Charter schools are publicly-funded. So you can say it's due to the failure of traditional public schools, or you can see it as a successful innovation in public schooling.