Is Riverside safe? Cause what I'm reading is scary... (Santa Ana: houses, safest neighborhood)

[MrTudo]

Originally Posted by LolaDog61

Riverside IS a true melting pot; the city does have that going for it. You won't find long stretches of bland affluence as in, say... Corona, Redlands, or Temecula, but if you like that sort of thing, you won't have to drive far. While the people of Riverside are wonderful, indeed, the quality of life is quickly nearing Indonesia proportions. Crime is NOT dropping. It's worse than ever. Gangs are everywhere, and the worst gang is the Riverside Police Department. They are not employed to protect and serve. They work for the District Attorney; they attend to crime scenes, and they are there to collect evidence against you.

No jobs exist in the city except AT the city. Try driving downtown sometime. I dare you. Nearly every street downtown is in a constant state of "Men At Work." That's because the City of Riverside always has money to spare.

Feel like burning some spare cash at Ye Olde Antique Shoppe? One of those charming little places you used to see downtown? Well, they aren't there anymore. That's because nobody shops downtown anymore because you have to pay for parking EVERYWHERE. Except for at the Porn Shop, and we don't know why, except that the Chief of Police likes to spend his afternoons there, and he doesn't like to pay for parking. And if you don't know about the Chief of Police scandal and his roadside theatrics, just ask someone. (RPD is a lawless group of thugs with no accountability.)

If you can help it at all, don't move there. If you do, you'll regret it.

Wow! It sounds like so many places in the US. But at least we have troops in over 100 countries defending our freedoms lol. The chief of police of Riverside spends afternoons at a porn place ? There's a porn place in downtown Riverside?

[MrTudo]

5520 Vía San Jacinto, Riverside, CA 92506 ? Seems like a nice road and neighborhood in the 400K range?

I'll find a few more that I've saved as possibles, if you all don't mind please tell me about the general neighborhood if you can would be most appreciated. It doesn't look like a crime infested, bad water, bad air place. Say it isn't so!

[GatsbyGatz]

Originally Posted by MrTudo

5520 Vía San Jacinto, Riverside, CA 92506 ? Seems like a nice road and neighborhood in the 400K range?

I'll find a few more that I've saved as possibles, if you all don't mind please tell me about the general neighborhood if you can would be most appreciated. It doesn't look like a crime infested, bad water, bad air place. Say it isn't so!

I live in an apartment in this neighborhood off of Canyon Crest and Via Zapata. It's a safe, very gorgeous neighborhood. My girl and I have never had any trouble and oftentimes walk to the Ralphs in the very pretty shopping center on Central and Canyon Crest. That shopping center has a lot of nice restaurants and wine bars. A solid indicator of the safety of this neighborhood is that the Ralphs there is open till 1 AM (if safety was a concern, it would close much earlier). Anytime I'm at that Ralphs or Rite Aid late at night, I only see college students (and the good kind; clean cut and preppy). The closest "crime" spot near this neighborhood is over north of University Ave towards Blaine street and even then the only crime here is that people steal from the many college students walking around. Obviously crime and theft will be high where kids walk around with laptops.

The "bad" parts of Riverside that people complain about are in the older neighborhoods with small track homes such as Casa Blanca and Eastside. Canyon Crest and anything up on the hills of Riverside are nice. The house you indicated is not near crime.

Feel free to list all your houses that you're interested in. The one you listed is quite nice and is within 5 minutes of all the shopping you'll ever need (banks, grocery stores, and restaurants on Central/Canyon Crest, shopping centers up Canyon Crest on Alessandro, and you're 10 minutes from Day Street which has a shopping mall). This location is also situated near freeway on-ramps while still not being too close to the freeways. A good location in my book.

[MrTudo]

Thank you for the review. I think I have 3 or 4 that looked pretty nice. I have to go find them now, this is great

[Count David]

Originally Posted by MrTudo

Thank you for the review. I think I have 3 or 4 that looked pretty nice. I have to go find them now, this is great

Yeah, Canyon Crest is fine.

[bruins91]

one of the main complaints i've heard about SoCal is that if you want to be inoculated from crime, you have to find some ultraexpensive real estate. Most of Riverside county (save for parts of Corona, Indian Wells, and Woodcrest) is relatively inexpensive and crime is fair game.

[MrTudo]

Well, this is an extremely big move for us, my health has been teetering for several years and just going there to look is a major thing. I need to call the airlines and see if a trolley of some sort or other "in-airport" transportation exists for people who cannot walk that far. We have not been on an airplane since this strarted about 3 years ago. So what I'm saying is information such as what we are reading on this message board is so important that it's REALLY being read haha, this ain't being glossed over. Thank you for those posting indepth specific information. It's really needed and appreciated by people like me.

Perhaps one of the biggest questions is going to be how the change in weather affects my spinal condition. Will the dry hot air and colder winters of socal instead of a humid hot ( hate it ) sw fla with somewhat less humidity in the winter be a plus or negative remains to be seen. The plan is to go in about a month. Am finishing with a year long treatment yikes how time flies when you're having fun

[JohnSoCal]

Originally Posted by bruins91

one of the main complaints i've heard about SoCal is that if you want to be inoculated from crime, you have to find some ultraexpensive real estate. Most of Riverside county (save for parts of Corona, Indian Wells, and Woodcrest) is relatively inexpensive and crime is fair game.

That is absolutely false. There are many areas with low crime that do not have expensive real estate. Murrieta is one of the safest cities in the United States. Temecula has a low crime rate. There are many other areas in Riverside County that are good including most of the city of Riverside.

[Gandalara]

Originally Posted by MrTudo

I need to call the airlines and see if a trolley of some sort or other "in-airport" transportation exists for people who cannot walk that far.

Airports at Ontario and Palm Springs (don't know where you'e flying in to) have "in-house" wheelchairs that will get you from the plane to baggage pick-up to curbside outside. You just tell the flight attendant before you land, and they call ahead so it's waiting for you. They insist on pushing you too

I think it's law that all airports of a certain size have this?

[GatsbyGatz]

Originally Posted by JohnSoCal

That is absolutely false. There are many areas with low crime that do not have expensive real estate. Murrieta is one of the safest cities in the United States. Temecula has a low crime rate. There are many other areas in Riverside County that are good including most of the city of Riverside.

Precisely. The newer developments in Riverside county are incredibly nice (they will remind you of OC-style suburbia). The Victorians and historic housing in Downtown Riverside and on the Wood Streets are fantastic and charming, and then you have Canyon Crest, Orangecrest, Alessandro Heights, Mockingbird Canyon, and parts of Arlington Heights and Woodcrest with newer housing where the upper middle class to upper class call home, with gorgeous canyon views from their houses that would cost millions to be able to have if these homes were in LA. These parts of Riverside are very safe because this area is suburban, meaning only residents will be found in these parts. Homeless don't go into these areas because they'd have to walk up steep canyon roads to reach what is all just suburban homes and big, homeless-unfriendly shopping centers.

That isn't to say that the older neighborhoods of Riverside that isn't up the hills or in Downtown are bad. These areas are simply home to middle class and working class families. Very family oriented. Given the time these neighborhoods were built, in appearance these areas look identical to the San Fernando Valley.