Downtown Santa Rosa - Safe place for a Senior to Live? Homeless problems? (San Francisco: homes, camping)

[BodegaHead]

Yeah, I mean the city is totally liveable & overall safe but there is a lot of vagabonds & lunies roaming around the downtown area & it has gotten noticeably worse in the last year.

[BodegaHead]

Yeah, I mean the city is totally liveable & overall safe but there is a lot of vagabonds & lunies roaming around the downtown area & it has gotten noticeably worse in the last year.
IMO opinion it is a large homeless problem for such a small upscale kinda place, compared to a major city its nothing but santa Rosa is still kinda of just a big town, I don't really consider it a "city", its much smaller than san jose for example.

Anyways, you would probably enjoy the area, especially if youre in your retirement years.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by lrmsd

Oh, bummer! I was hoping this had not infected SR, as well. As others said, nothing gives me pause when I visit...but I don't usually spend time downtown. STILL, it HAS to be better than Redding. That place is notorious for crime, meth, homeless, not safe, etc. SR overall is a nice city and close to other desirable areas. OP: I guess you'll be able to tell first hand when you are in the area, whether or not it *feels* as bad as Redding. Not that you want to keep moving, but if there were also SR housing locations in windsor or somewhere nearby, it's possibly worth being in SR to keep an eye out for 'ideal' options. Anyway, good luck and report back if you feel like it, so people researching in the future can get the low down for 2014.

Thanks much to Bodega Head and others for their first-hand experiences.

LRMSD: I know, wah! Well, I'm still going to go check this place out the first week of next month. This is my only housing option in SR right now. What's great about this place, though, or one of the things - is that once you are accepted there and become a tenant, the city gives you a Section 8 voucher for the City of Santa Rosa. If you stay there for one year, you can then move to another Section 8 rental within the City of Santa Rosa.

The Section 8 voucher is my holy grail lol! That's one reason I moved to Redding is that I'm on the Section 8 waiting lists for both the City of Redding and Shasta County.

The "downtown" homeless problem seems to be happening everywhere. I'm sad it's bad in SR now, too.

As far as crime in Redding otherwise...I don't feel that here. I know there have been some car jackings - one was a friend of one of my neighbors. The guy was walking out to his fancy Mustang from his night job at Target, and as he was walking to the car, two guys came up to him with knives and demanded his keys. They obviously knew he was the owner of that Mustang. He gave up the keys, they didn't hurt him, and then totalled the car in a high speed chase.

But, I normally only go out during the day, am home by dark, and other than bumping into the homeless guys downtown, I don't feel that this town is dangerous at all. In fact, I find people here really friendly and down to earth.

So, the town overall doesn't bother me. I just don't like the homeless hanging around outside my door. And I'm not looking forward to the hot summers here.

It's really sounding like SR would be the same as far as living downtown, but with better weather and I'd be closer to my family/friends.

Anyway, I will go check it out first week of March, and let you all know what I thought of the area. Thanks so much again for your feedback.

[Hypersion]

When I lived in DT Long Beach I would get panhandled every-time I set foot outside my door often by drunk/high people. The homeless seams to outnumber the normal people walking the streets. Sometimes it was a bit scary even though I was 6' 200lb 20 something.
In SR most panhandlers seam to look like couch surfers vs true street people.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Okay, as was suggested, I looked to see what the resources are for the homeless in Santa Rosa, thinking this may give me a clue as to how bad the homeless situation is - or will be. I thought Redding had a lot of resources for the homeless. Santa Rosa wins, hands down.

In Santa Rosa proper alone, there are 25 food programs - some for just women and children, just seniors, etc. But, 25???!!! Lord! I may have been off by one or two, I was starting to get cross-eyed!

Anyway, they are listed on this 9 - count em - 9 page document.

http://www.namisonomacounty.org/pdf/resources/food.pdf

Well, again, it looks like Santa Rosa would be the same as far as homeless "residents" downtown. Now I have to decide if it's worth it to move anyway. I guess this summer will help me decide - can she take the heat? LOL!

Thanks to all for your feedback!

[BodegaHead]

Your other main consideration should be "vibe" , surroundings & convenience. Redding is more of a "down home country" vibe - further out from cities. Santa Rosa is more "new age cosmopolitan" vibe & only 45-60min tp sf & the bay area & Sacramento is only 2 hrs to the east.

[West Coast Republican]

I have family in SR, and am moving back there. The areas to avoid are Indian Village, Canton Court (spelling?), Roseland areas. There are gangs in Santa Rosa, but mostly confined to those areas above.

[NoMoreSnowForMe]

Originally Posted by BodegaHead

Your other main consideration should be "vibe" , surroundings & convenience. Redding is more of a "down home country" vibe - further out from cities. Santa Rosa is more "new age cosmopolitan" vibe & only 45-60min tp sf & the bay area & Sacramento is only 2 hrs to the east.

You're right. For the last quarter of my life I lived in the more "new age cosmopolitan" vibe. But, I used to live in the "down home country" vibe when I lived in WA state (total of 18 years, mostly in the country).

I find that I am comfortable here in the country vibe, even though it's very white republican here - very different from the Bay Area, and even Davis and Sacramento, where I've lived. I'm Democrat, but pretty middle of the road when it comes to issues. For instance, I have no problem with guns .

So, that's no problem for me here in Redding. And I must admit that I LOVE that there's no traffic here. I've seen other posts where people complain about the traffic here. I think that's hilarious. I guess if they have to slow down to 35 in town, they think that's a traffic jam here LOL!

So, really, the draws to SR for me over Redding (considering I'd be low income and living downtown with the homeless problem either way), is:

1) I'd be only about an 1 to 1 1/2 hours to any of my friends and family (as opposed to 3+ hours from Redding); and

2) better weather.

Funny, how it's paring down. If downtown Redding was homeless-free, that would be a clincher.

I've decided to go ahead and save up for the next year, and see how I've liked living in Redding for a year. By then, I could afford to move to SR, if I wanted to.

It would be nice to be able to have lunch with my daughter and my friends, but truly, they are all so busy that's the most time I usually get with them anyway (husbands, kids, full-time jobs, etc.). So, I'd see them all maybe once a month, if that. Now, I don't have that. I will probably see them all maybe once every 3-4 months now. But is that worth moving for?

Then, what's left is the weather. Is that worth moving for, either? I'll know in a year .

Oh, and of course, dog parks are important! I did see that SR does have quite a few dog parks. Redding has great areas for dogs off-leash. I love that I can take her down to the river, even though there are ducks, geese, etc. I can't imagine any public park/natural area in the SF Bay Area allowing you to have your dogs off leash. So, there's something to be said for this "country downhome" vibe up here! Less traffic, and they let the ducks take their chances with the dogs lol!

Okay, I'm babbling. Thanks again for the feedback everyone. It's helping me to decide, and it's actually helped me see that I actually do like Redding pretty well after all is considered. And, God, I hate moving!

[cre8lite]

weather comparison between sr & redding? sr wins, hands down! redding has the extremes, sr doesn't. sr has a few days during the summer that you wished for a/c, that's it. outlying areas (cloverdale, healdsburg) get warmer weather so the need for a/c is greater in those areas, but downtown where you're looking at you won't need it.

[Mollyshines]

Sonoma county has become a trash can! I've never seen so much trash in my life! There isn't one foot of space that isn't littered throughout! It's unbareable! As for Santa Rosa, it's become a mini Los Angeles. Homeless on every corner begging for food taking turns with their shifts. You can't even leave parking lots without passing one. It's very depressing. Like I said, it's a trash can! Literally. I'm embarrassed to even live here. I've lived in Bodega Bay now for almost 5 years now, and I've seen the change. The new Casino has brought in way too many people, train of cars all the way to the coast, and more littering on top of it. I wouldn't advise anyone to live here. People who say it's great, are those who don't pay attention. The only thing going for sonoma county is the weather. That's it.