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I don't know about anyone else, but who is growing tired of the lack of jobs, reasonable rent and the lack of well kept rentals?
Also, what is going on with the sub-standard restaurants here? There are a few good ones left but not many!
This city was OK about 10 years ago when I moved here but it has lost it's appeal to many it seems. What are your thoughts?
I couldn't disagree with you more.
San Diego in 1999 or 2009? I'll take it today. More and better restaurants to choose from, not to mention the shopping, bars, and hotels. Downtown is way better now than 10 years ago. It's safer these days, too. All of the cholos and crips seemed to have grown up and moved on.
Jobs? Instead of being dependent on the military, it's now more diverse. More obvious wealth can be seen throughout the Metro. And why are so many people complaining about the lack of jobs here, when it's the same situation everywhere? Wasn't it less than 10 years ago that the dotcom's created more jobs than there were people? No one was complaining about jobs in SD then.
I think LA, Miami and Atlanta are cities that were better 10 years ago. SD is doing just fine compared to those places.
Mind you, I don't have kids and don't plan on having any so I may have a different outlook than others.
San Diego in 1999 or 2009? I'll take it today. More and better restaurants to choose from, not to mention the shopping, bars, and hotels. Downtown is way better now than 10 years ago. It's safer these days, too. All of the cholos and crips seemed to have grown up and moved on.
Really? downtown safer? I got mugged just a couple of years ago or less, coming out of House of Blues on way back to car.
I had a conversation with my brother the other day. He said he loves his 'hood (Normal Heights) but wished it was more "classy", i.e. that even the massive gentrification that has occurred there was not enough. We agreed that for that to happen, San Diego would need to figure out a way to keep the highly-educated 30-somethings from leaving (which they often do). San Diego is a good place to retire to, or be a beach bum, but is a very hard place to start and build a life. Those same 30-somethings have transformed Silverlake, Echo Park, and lots of other inner-LA neighborhoods.
I'm hoping the Adams Ave. corridor (University Heights, Normal Heights, Kensington), along with 30th St thru North Park, keeps improving in the coming years. Man, I love driving down those streets and seeing all of the new restaurants/pubs opening up (Blind Lady, Jayne's, Toronado, Urban Solace, Linkery, Mayahuel, Twiggs, Farm House, among many others) Do you know that El Zarape is opening a larger sit down restaurant/bar in NH? Rumor has it that we'll finally get a sushi place along Adams, as well. Hate having to go to Hillcrest all the time.
I feel your bro's frustration, though, because it could be so much better. I have no plans to leave my "South of the 8" 'hood anytime soon. And with the drop in home prices, I know people who are actually looking to buy in Kensington/Normal Heights who were priced out for years. If they move in, all I can say is, "there goes the neighborhood", and I mean that in the best possible way!
Really? downtown safer? I got mugged just a couple of years ago or less, coming out of House of Blues on way back to car.
I wouldn't call certain areas safe at all.
Bad luck for you. I've been going downtown for years (concerts, biking, dinner, plays, baseball games, conventions) and have never been a victim of a crime.
Interesting how many San Diegans I see who are confused as to why people would actually consider San Diego so great. Now I've only visited once, but as somebody who has SD (Chula Vista) in my top 3 places to retire list, let me say why I put it there-
I want to retire to a place that has plenty of bike trails (as in miles and miles) and it's got to have a pedestrian bridge somewhere (shows how serious the place is about it)
I want to be able to comfortably (temperature) use them year round.
I want the place to have plenty of parks, and parks on water, so I can sometimes grab a book and a chair and go read next to some awesome scenery, or sometimes go play tennis.
I want a place that's got plenty of festivals and arts things to do like theater and symphonies and concerts.
I want a place where I can drop a kayak in a body of water a couple times a month and not worry about freezing or about gators.
I want a place which has an ample variety of restaurants, particularly ethnic ones.
I want a place that has a good amount of outdoor shopping/town center style shopping, even better if it's within 2 miles of the home I buy (so I can walk if I want to).
I want a place with a food bank in the metro area that I can volunteer at.
I want a place with pro sports, particularly either football or baseball.
In what cities in the United States besides San Diego (Chula Vista) can I find all of that? How long does anybody think that list is?
Your answer, "Everywhere!"
What city doesn't have bike trails so please don't act like San Diego is the only city with bike trails.
Perfect weather please. The Weather here is off and on. The winters are extremely cold, which I find strange, and the summers are blazing hot. The only time when the weather is normal is when it is in the spring and one or two weeks after a big rain Strom.
Plenty of parks can also be found anywhere just look at New York.
This is not Broadway and there is are hardly symphonies and live theater her.
I'm hoping the Adams Ave. corridor (University Heights, Normal Heights, Kensington), along with 30th St thru North Park, keeps improving in the coming years. Man, I love driving down those streets and seeing all of the new restaurants/pubs opening up (Blind Lady, Jayne's, Toronado, Urban Solace, Linkery, Mayahuel, Twiggs, Farm House, among many others) Do you know that El Zarape is opening a larger sit down restaurant/bar in NH? Rumor has it that we'll finally get a sushi place along Adams, as well. Hate having to go to Hillcrest all the time.
totally agree with that, we have managed to find reasonable replacements for a lot of stuff out here which is nice, but I am still over there once a week.
Adams ave... has come along way and still has a long way to go... I think things are going to be stalled for a little while until people can rehab their houses again.
What city doesn't have bike trails so please don't act like San Diego is the only city with bike trails.
Perfect weather please. The Weather here is off and on. The winters are extremely cold, which I find strange, and the summers are blazing hot. The only time when the weather is normal is when it is in the spring and one or two weeks after a big rain Strom.
Plenty of parks can also be found anywhere just look at New York.
This is not Broadway and there is are hardly symphonies and live theater her.
You might have to worry during winter time.
to be contiued
1. San Diego is an absolutely fantastic place for biking. There are dedicated bike lanes all over the city. Plus there are lots of mountain bike trails, and paved bike paths along the bay. And then there's Highway 101 for road biking along a scenic ocean highway, with some extremely steep hills.
2. In comparison to every other city in the nation, San Diego has the best year round weather. The only rainy months are during the winter. The rest of year is sunny practically every single day, with very few, if any rainy days. In the coastal areas, the coldest nighttime temperatures are in the upper 30's during the winter, but typically they are in the 40's and 50's during winter nights. And most of the year the daytime temperatures are in the 60s - 80s. It is comfortable enough to wear shorts all year round. Not many other cities can say that. And winter coats .... forget about them! A lightweight jacket, sweater, or sweatshirt is the most you'll ever need in San Diego.
5. I have seen a lot people kayaking at Mission Bay during the past few weeks. We are currently in the middle of winter, and daytime temps are in the 60s - 70s, sometimes reaching the low 80s. There are still plenty of people out on Mission Bay in boats, kayaks, etc. during this time of year.
What city doesn't have bike trails so please don't act like San Diego is the only city with bike trails.
Perfect weather please. The Weather here is off and on. The winters are extremely cold, which I find strange, and the summers are blazing hot. The only time when the weather is normal is when it is in the spring and one or two weeks after a big rain Strom.
Plenty of parks can also be found anywhere just look at New York.
This is not Broadway and there is are hardly symphonies and live theater her.
You might have to worry during winter time.
to be contiued
1. I'm talking about miles and miles of bike trails. Not some 2 mile trail that I've got to get in a car and drive my back on a bike rack to. I'm talking about bike trails that I can get to quickly from my house. I'm talking about cities that have built pedestrian bridges over streets or rivers. And I'm talking about being able to enjoy that year round. Minneapolis' ample trails mean nothing to me because I'm not about to retire where I can't use them for a quarter of the year. DC same thing. That's most certainly not everywhere because I've looked.
2. To me if it doesn't get to 100 for many days in the summer, and if the humidity doesn't feel like you're breathing water, it ain't hot. 92 degrees and 25% humidity isn't hot. If it doesn't get below 40 during the day with high humidity, it ain't cold. 48 degrees and 25% humidity isn't cold. So I don't know what you mean by winters are extremely cold and summers blazing hot, but the weather trends I have seen for SD have it where I could get out and enjoy plenty of 60 something degree winter days and plenty of 70 to 80 something degree summer days.
3. Just look at New York? What all the people jam packed on top of each other? And the daily high for New York has only gotten above 45 degrees 2 days out of the past week. And I'm not going to hang out in anybody's park shivering. I'd be stuck inside trying to avoid the cold if I was in New York, and for as much of a place I'd get, I'd be touching both sides of my apartment (forget getting a house) standing in one place. Forget that overcrowded, overly cold, concrete jungle. And where am I going to ride my bike? Take it from a 5th floor apartment down some stairs and then ride along the busy sidewalks crossing traffic every block until I get to Prospect Park or Riverside Park? And pay out the wazoo for that? No thank you.
4. I don't care about Broadway. The San Diego Symphony plays at historic Copley Symphony Hall and even has a performance tomorrow evening, DVOřáK'S SERENADE FOR STRINGS. Balboa Theater/San Diego Civic Theater has theater events. This Saturday there's a 40s swing performance at Balboa. So don't try to fake me out with that "there's hardly symphonies and live theater here" stuff when obviously if I were there now I could check out a symphony performance tomorrow and a theater performance Saturday.
5. Worry about what during winter? The daily high's above 50, the humidity is typically low, the CV trails are bikeable, so I'm good.
Location: Silver Spring, Maryland / But still having San Diego / Eastlake withdrawal damn it !!!
340 posts, read 1,412,481 times
Reputation: 179
Quote:
Originally Posted by MantaRay
Are you saying that CV crime is getting a lot worse? Are people not taking care of their home? The portion of CV I've been scoping out is the Otay Ranch/Eastlake eastern part of CV. Are all those new homes and beautiful new parks really deteriorating and becoming crime-ridden? Or does she live closer to downtown CV? This sort of information is really important for me.
I can't find anywhere else in metro SD that has the number of new homes with parks intersperced and outdoor shopping/town center AND extensive bike trails. Is there somewhere else in the metro that I've missed that has all that? There's no way I could afford to live in a condo near Westfield Horton Plaza and the Bay downtown or in the (Balboa) Park West area where I could walk to Horton or bike along the Bay. I'm assuming prices there are much higher than eastern CV.
MantaRay ......I wouldn't worry about Eastern Chula Vista myself. The part of Chula Vista that poster was talking about is most likely the West side of CV. I lived at the Telegraph Canyon and 805 area of CV and Eastlake area of CV and loved it. It was safe (I have a family) and very family friendly areas.
Yes CV has a diverse poplulation but thats what makes it special in my opinion. The whole time we lived there ( we hope to come back to raise our family there in the near future too) we never had a language barrier with anyone we ran into in Chula Vista....the East side or the West side.
Overall when my wife was sent to San Diego (she is military) from the East Coast , we didn't want to go and then when her new orders came this past August we did everything we could to stay in the San Diego/Chula Vista. But to no avail, so we hope to get back soon or maybe even buy some property now and rent it until we can move back in the future. We'll see.
As for the original poster saying that "San Diego is not a good place to live anymore" is a very broad stroke of the keyboard. Everyones situation is different and being military we've lived all over the country. San Diego is very unique for sure, is it for everyone "NO". But what place is ? You have do some research on where you would be marketable and a happy environment you might like.
I grew up in the Wash. DC area and it was a good place to grow up, but like other Suburban areas it had decline and crime was horrible in DC (where alot of us worked). So I did some homework and check out Florida and moved there and made a fresh start for myself (I was 29 at the time). Never thought I'd leave Florida I loved it there so much. Then I met my wife who was military and since then we have lived all over and to my shagrin I'm back in the Wash. DC area which I swore I'd never live at or near again...oh well...life throws us a curve ball every once in a while.
San Diego can be a great place to live for the right person with the right attitude and drive to succeed in that market. I had to change the way I made a living when I moved to Florida......like the old saying "When in Rome do as the Romans do".
MantaRay ......I wouldn't worry about Eastern Chula Vista myself. The part of Chula Vista that poster was talking about is most likely the West side of CV. I lived at the Telegraph Canyon and 805 area of CV and Eastlake area of CV and loved it. It was safe (I have a family) and very family friendly areas.
Thanks for saying that to give me some real perspective on CV. Something told me that as nice and new and manicured as that area is, it didn't really make sense for it to ALREADY be run-down.
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The Weather here is off and on. The winters are extremely cold, which I find strange, and the summers are blazing hot. The only time when the weather is normal is when it is in the spring and one or two weeks after a big rain Strom.
