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You can use the same philosophy here. I believe Westshore has no HOA so it will look really nice in the beginning until it gets developed. Give it 5 years and it'll start to deteroirate. This tends to happen when you have low income housing in the area. Now this doesn't mean neighbors couldn't get together and form their own committee but I highly doubt that. Also, you'll start seeing streets full of cars and the front of the houses will start having garbage cans left for weeks, etc.
You're still better off in Natomas Park or West Lake.
I live in North Natomas, in Westshore. Our neighborhood is great. Many working class people and ages in mid 30's and up. You can not escape crime anywhere forever. I lived in Roseville/Rocklin and you had crime there as well. The fact is that it is a convienent location to pretty much anything. As far as flooding? That's why you get flood insurance. It is no different than people who live close to fault lines, or people who live in high fire areas. All these un-realistic people should go stick their head back in the sand if they think that crime only happens in certain areas, or that it won't increase in "nicer" areas.
Having a strong HOA is big. Even renters have to follow the HOA guidlines otherwise the owners get in big trouble. If you have an active community involved in the HOA, you will have a nice neighborhood.
Ten years from now, I bet that Truxel north of 80 will look pretty similiar to how Truxel and Northgate look south of 80. North Natomas has two major problems. First a tremendous amount of the owner occupants are being displaced by renters, so in the next couple of years the school test scores are going to be getting much worse, and the lawns won't be taken care of very well. The other problem is that a large part of North Natomas is not actually in the Natomas Unified School District, its in the Twin Rivers Unified School District. (the successor to the Rio Linda Union / Grant Union High School districts). These high schools already have a major gang problem. So if you buy in here, your kids can be going to high school with gangbangers. Not good for property values. Moreover, there isn't a good geograhic boundary like a freeway or a river to seperate the comparatively good Natomas District from the horrible Twin Rivers District. In short as the bad element from Grant destroys the neighborhood the problem will spread to the rest of the neighborhood as everyone just avoids the neighborhood.
Ten years from now, I bet that Truxel north of 80 will look pretty similiar to how Truxel and Northgate look south of 80. North Natomas has two major problems. First a tremendous amount of the owner occupants are being displaced by renters, so in the next couple of years the school test scores are going to be getting much worse, and the lawns won't be taken care of very well. The other problem is that a large part of North Natomas is not actually in the Natomas Unified School District, its in the Twin Rivers Unified School District. (the successor to the Rio Linda Union / Grant Union High School districts). These high schools already have a major gang problem. So if you buy in here, your kids can be going to high school with gangbangers. Not good for property values. Moreover, there isn't a good geograhic boundary like a freeway or a river to seperate the comparatively good Natomas District from the horrible Twin Rivers District. In short as the bad element from Grant destroys the neighborhood the problem will spread to the rest of the neighborhood as everyone just avoids the neighborhood.
Even though Twin Rivers includes the old Grant High School District, it doesn't mean that all of their schools are way worse than Inderkum or Natomas High school. Greatschools.net shows that Inderkum scored an API of 721, Rio Linda High was 699, and Natomas High was even worse at 658. Inderkum (Natomas Unified) and Rio Linda (where N. Natomas kids would go in the Twin Rivers district) are only separated by 22 points. That's not a big difference. So saying that Twin Rivers is "horrible" when it has only been in existance since June 1, is a bit hasty. Give it time to have a better system form, and then you can make your judgements.
Let's face it, the population in North Natomas is changing rapidly. Sadly, I believe there is a direct correlation between the massive amounts of low and extremely low income apartment housing and crime/gang activity. Just look at all of the graffiti in N. Natomas. Also, Twin Rivers is building a brand new high school just a bit east of Natomas Blvd and South of Elkhorn. Go drive by it. Then all of the N. Natomas kids that are part of the Twin Rivers District will not be going to Rio Linda High or other schools like Grant. There are gang issues at all of the high schools around here, even Inderkum. If you don't believe me, just go be a guest for a day at the school. The new school will have gangs also. It's just where we live and the population that BOTH school districts serve.
Just FYI, Regency Park (which is currently a great school, on par with Heron) kids do not feed into Grant High School, they go to Rio Linda High and soon to the new high school. Admittedly, there are serious gang issues over there at Grant, but these N. Natomas kids are not going to go to Grant, and Del Paso Heights and North Highlands kids will not go to the same school as N. Natomas kids.
Honestly, I think that all of the schools around here (maybe except the charters) are going to see drops in scores and more behavioral/gang issues because this is the population that is increasing the most in ALL of these schools. This is not a Natomas Unified vs. Twin Rivers issue.
I live in the Hamptons off of East Commerce on the right hand side (not 99 side) and we also have a HOA. I really like the neighborhood. We bought our home a little over a year ago. We have a great street. I know all my neighbors and everyone as far as I can tell really tries to keep the area up. We also will have a great new park around the corner that they are about to break ground on. This will have a small and large dog park as well. I know the crime issues in N. Natomas seem a bit outrageous right now but we are a new community (relatively speaking) that is going through growing pains. I have seen a ton of police in the area now and I think we are finally getting the attention of the city. For the naysayers out there, if you don't live in the area I would suggest that you don't write about it. The bee tends to only post the negative side. The neighborhood associations are great and there are so many people involved in the neighborhoods themselves. My only caution would be to buy where there is an HOA. That is key. Like the poster said above, they do keep the areas clean and enforce residents to take responsibility of their properties.
Even though Twin Rivers includes the old Grant High School District, it doesn't mean that all of their schools are way worse than Inderkum or Natomas High school. Greatschools.net shows that Inderkum scored an API of 721, Rio Linda High was 699, and Natomas High was even worse at 658. Inderkum (Natomas Unified) and Rio Linda (where N. Natomas kids would go in the Twin Rivers district) are only separated by 22 points. That's not a big difference. So saying that Twin Rivers is "horrible" when it has only been in existance since June 1, is a bit hasty. Give it time to have a better system form, and then you can make your judgements.
Let's face it, the population in North Natomas is changing rapidly. Sadly, I believe there is a direct correlation between the massive amounts of low and extremely low income apartment housing and crime/gang activity. Just look at all of the graffiti in N. Natomas. Also, Twin Rivers is building a brand new high school just a bit east of Natomas Blvd and South of Elkhorn. Go drive by it. Then all of the N. Natomas kids that are part of the Twin Rivers District will not be going to Rio Linda High or other schools like Grant. There are gang issues at all of the high schools around here, even Inderkum. If you don't believe me, just go be a guest for a day at the school. The new school will have gangs also. It's just where we live and the population that BOTH school districts serve.
Just FYI, Regency Park (which is currently a great school, on par with Heron) kids do not feed into Grant High School, they go to Rio Linda High and soon to the new high school. Admittedly, there are serious gang issues over there at Grant, but these N. Natomas kids are not going to go to Grant, and Del Paso Heights and North Highlands kids will not go to the same school as N. Natomas kids.
Honestly, I think that all of the schools around here (maybe except the charters) are going to see drops in scores and more behavioral/gang issues because this is the population that is increasing the most in ALL of these schools. This is not a Natomas Unified vs. Twin Rivers issue.
The Grant Union District has been horribly mismanaged for years. When these districts combine into the Twin Rivers District everyone is going to be stuck with the consequences of the malfeasance from the Grant Union days.
Specifically there are the huge cost overruns on the new Natomas Campus which lacks enough Natomas enrollment. This means either the school must import students from other parts of the district and/or that the general fund will be raided to pay for the debt or both situation will occur. What is that going to do to test scores?
Education - Twin Rivers' study says new East Natomas school too costly - sacbee.com (http://www.sacbee.com/education/story/1024338.html - broken link)
Second there is the issue of the buyouts. Twin Rivers and the County both felt that buyouts were illegal and improper. A judge said they were legal, but that doesn't mean that were proper. Again its part of the pattern of mismanagement at Grant.
Education - Sacramento judge approves Grant school buyouts - sacbee.com (http://www.sacbee.com/education/story/1046221.html - broken link)
Moreover look at the dropout rates. The district has been ran in a manner to extract money from the state, not to educate the students. Half the high school students didn't graduate and the administrators are getting buyouts of 100k to 250K?
Politics - California high school dropout rate near one-quarter, report says - sacbee.com (http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1088866.html - broken link)
These are just the articles from the past couple of months, but the malfeasance has been going on much longer. This is why I have so many doubts about Twin Rivers. I really do think the issue is going to be Twin Rivers v Natomas Unified. There just isn't the same record of malfeasance in the Natomas District yet.
The Grant Union District has been horribly mismanaged for years. When these districts combine into the Twin Rivers District everyone is going to be stuck with the consequences of the malfeasance from the Grant Union days.
Specifically there are the huge cost overruns on the new Natomas Campus which lacks enough Natomas enrollment. This means either the school must import students from other parts of the district and/or that the general fund will be raided to pay for the debt or both situation will occur. What is that going to do to test scores?
Education - Twin Rivers' study says new East Natomas school too costly - sacbee.com (http://www.sacbee.com/education/story/1024338.html - broken link)
Second there is the issue of the buyouts. Twin Rivers and the County both felt that buyouts were illegal and improper. A judge said they were legal, but that doesn't mean that were proper. Again its part of the pattern of mismanagement at Grant.
Education - Sacramento judge approves Grant school buyouts - sacbee.com (http://www.sacbee.com/education/story/1046221.html - broken link)
Moreover look at the dropout rates. The district has been ran in a manner to extract money from the state, not to educate the students. Half the high school students didn't graduate and the administrators are getting buyouts of 100k to 250K?
Politics - California high school dropout rate near one-quarter, report says - sacbee.com (http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1088866.html - broken link)
These are just the articles from the past couple of months, but the malfeasance has been going on much longer. This is why I have so many doubts about Twin Rivers. I really do think the issue is going to be Twin Rivers v Natomas Unified. There just isn't the same record of malfeasance in the Natomas District yet.
I totally agree that Grant was mismanaged for years. Grant serves a way more difficult population than Natomas. The two districts can't really be compared. Natomas is newer with a lot more working parents. I believe that the free and reduced lunch for Natomas high schools are under 50%. But Grant is generally over about 80%. I only compared the Grant high school that Natomas kids would be going to (Rio Linda High) to Inderkum and Natomas because they have about the same kids.
But I agree that Grant was pure crap. The new Twin Rivers will not be a blissful answer thinking that all of the gangstas are going to become angelic students. Schools just can't make that happen, and it's unfair for people to think that schools and school districts are going to overturn a huge gang/crime issue, which will in turn increase the graduation rate. We can only hope that new/better management can make for a more fluid transition from elementary to junior high to high school. But all of the problems that are at Grant right now will still be there because this new district is not going to change the students and their messed up families.
I echo the opinion of those who commented about the Natomas area being a desirable location to live within the city of Sacramento.
Even parts of South Natomas, especially South of 80 and West of Truxel, has cleaned up a lot over the years with all the new contruction that went in. You would have to go out of the city to get anything better. I've come across a few people who do not like living among diversity or stressed-out people, but you will always get that with big cities.
The commute around Sacramento is getting worse everyday. So, it's nice to quickly commute to Natomas Corporate Center in South Natomas, a large business park...not to mention the proximity to downtown where there are a lot of jobs. Plus, it's nice being so close (walking distance in my case) to the supermarket, library, Starbucks, Jamba Juice, In-N-Out Burger, Home Depot, Target, Barnes & Noble, Old Navy, Best Buy, Michaels, restaurants, movie theater, etc... I especially love the commute. It's only minutes from job centrals, Natomas Corporate Center, downtown, airport, IKEA, Old Sacramento's tourist attractions/festivals, and river recreation.
Last edited by julice1; 05-12-2009 at 08:33 AM..
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HOA at Westshore
