need advice on moving to Santa Cruz (San Jose, Salinas: rental, condo)

[bnkid]

Originally Posted by skatealoneskatetogether

I graduated from Ucsc last year and i can assure you once you live there youre pretty picture of beach side santa cruz will be tarnished. Unless you have wax in your ears and eyes or are stoned like 90% of the trashy locals. Tell me how much you love santa cruz when it takes you 30 minutes to go 2 miles accross town. And just because you know what its like to be a local does not make you a SANTA CRUZ LOCAL. Unless your birth certificate says dominican hospital you might as well be from the moon. And locals tend to treat female college students better, as they are trying to get in their pants(doesn't matter if the local is a man or a woman "anything goes" in santa cruz). I was at ucsc for 5 years, Ive seen it all. A good place to be young or retired or go to college or go to surf/skate, not a good place to raise a family especially if you have strong and decent conservative values.

Yes you basically have to keep your eyes closed to see only the pretty beach thing. I am a local born at Dominican. There is plenty of discrimination they treat female students better then males. Just a few more years and I'm done with this stupid town.

[jaynetarzana]

FYI - It appears that the gang problems in Santa Cruz are getting worse.

Man in his 20s shot twice at Chestnut Street apartment complex - Santa Cruz Sentinel

[coyoteskye]

Originally Posted by jaynetarzana

FYI - It appears that the gang problems in Santa Cruz are getting worse.

Man in his 20s shot twice at Chestnut Street apartment complex - Santa Cruz Sentinel

you bring up two old posts regarding santa cruz just to inform people about gangs in santa cruz?
why?
it's a very safe county all in all and yeah, there's some criminal activity but so is there anywhere.
if you know the county, you know that's it's a relatively safe place to be.
where i live, we still don't lock our doors.
so, why spread this?
what's the purpose?
this original post was from 2007.

[krudmonk]

Santa Cruz is not all that violent. Noting one murder does not speak of a trend.

[bigdumbgod]

Roving bands of bathtub-meth wannabe-hippie "gangs" cause more worry than real gangs in SC. Don't give them money, especially on Pacific.

[jaynetarzana]

Originally Posted by coyoteskye

you bring up two old posts regarding santa cruz just to inform people about gangs in santa cruz?
why?
it's a very safe county all in all and yeah, there's some criminal activity but so is there anywhere.
if you know the county, you know that's it's a relatively safe place to be.
where i live, we still don't lock our doors.
so, why spread this?
what's the purpose?
this original post was from 2007.

I didn't want to start a new thread, but I thought it might be worth knowing for people who search old threads looking for information on a place they are considering. That is kind of the point of this site.

[E. Campos]

I have lived in Santa Cruz for 35 yrs. Recently I found a small 1 bdrm for the bargan price of $1200 mo. With a vacancy rate of less than 1% and low paying service and tourist indusry jobs, this place is close to unlivable unless you recieve a substsntial trust fund. The local newspaper recently reported that rents in SC are higher than San Francisco or LA. Rent is falling in San Jose but going up in SC. And the gang problem is getting worse. The murder rate is increasing thanks to those punks. But the police seem powerless to stop it. They catch them and they go to trial but going to jail isn't taking care of the problem
Beyond that, why do I stay here? This is the most beautiful place I have ever seen. And I have an 85 yr old mother I watch out for. But if you want to move here beware, jobs are scarce. I worked three jobs to get established for two years and things are no different now. People with children are moving out and schools are closing because people can't afford to raise their kids here. Sad but true. When my mother is gone I will move because I just get further behind the longer i live here.

[astroia 34567]

As someone considering going to UC Santa Cruz, it sounds like the price of rentals and houses in Queens NYC but with less jobs.

And as with most of California you definitely need a car if you want to travel beyond the school and downtown Santa Cruz, correct?

As for crime and quality of life, it sounds like it would be higher than where I am at BUT much less diversity, convenience, ample access to cultural institutions and good restaurants. I am willing to live somewhere with less diversions in exchange for beautiful scenery and quiet.

[jaijai]

Originally Posted by astroia 34567

As someone considering going to UC Santa Cruz, it sounds like the price of rentals and houses in Queens NYC but with less jobs.

And as with most of California you definitely need a car if you want to travel beyond the school and downtown Santa Cruz, correct?

As for crime and quality of life, it sounds like it would be higher than where I am at BUT much less diversity, convenience, ample access to cultural institutions and good restaurants. I am willing to live somewhere with less diversions in exchange for beautiful scenery and quiet.

This thread was started over 4 years ago ... just so ya know.
Housing in Santa Cruz county is extremely expensive.
santa cruz co apts/housing for rent classifieds - craigslist
But since both UCSC and Cabrillo College (in Aptos) are in the county, there are lots and lots of room and share situations.
And there are plenty of places in Santa Cruz proper and Santa Cruz county that are safe.
Santa Cruz is a small city and it's relatively diverse ... not like Queens though.
It's not San Francisco (which is less than 2 hours to the north) but, for its size and location there are relatively good restaurants, a pretty good music scene, fairly good art scene, etc..
Also, the bus system in S.C county is excellent and there are many, many places to live in the county that are on or near the bus line.
Public transportation will take you throughout the county so no, it's not correct to assume that you need a car if you want to go beyond UCSC and downtown.
It's nice to have one if you want to really have access to more rural areas and so that you can explore the coast to the north and south.
But you don't need one.
The county is also extremely bike friendly so even if you live farther than walking distance to a bus stop you can bike and then put your bike on the bus (they all have easy on / easy off racks).

[alexxiz]

Santa Cruz made an impression of rough town.. I only been there twice and each time I run into problems, so I avoided walking around, eventually. Was harassed by drunk/stoned person, then, by panhandler, then was almost run over by a vehicle on a sidewalk, then was harassed by a weirdo in a store... A lot for just 2 days! Certainly these 2 days packed in a week worth of "adventure" in LA South Central.