Ping: Southern Californians

[EagleFan]

I may be getting a job offer for a position outside of San Diego. I was wondering a few things about the area.

- What areas on the outskirts of San Diego are nice, especially school disctrict wise?
- What areas should I avoid (I don't want to have to worry about getting caught in the cross-fire of a gang related drive-by)?
- What is car insurance like in California?
- What kind of utility bills should I expect?
- Just what is the weather like around San Diego (I keep hearing perfect all year round but that always seems to be on the ites that are advertising for vacations)?


Any other information is welcomed as well. I've been looking through appartment complexes, there's no way I can affrd buying a house at the moment, to get ideas of how much things will cost. I know the cost of living is high, which Iis why I want to find out all the little details so I can make a better judgement based on the salary that I'm offered.


Thanks in advance.

[Buccaneer]

North County San Diego was my old stompin' grounds (went to HS in Escondido) but that was a long time ago and any information I have would be dated.

[Runtheball]

Most of the areas on the outskirts of San Diego are generally nice and safe. In general, if you stay north of Interstate 8, you will be OK, but personally I would not want to be in Oceanside (perhaps the rougher of the communities north of I-8). I'm not condemning ALL the areas south of the 8, but that's where most of the gang activity would be found.

The Poway school district is (or was a couple years ago, last time I heard) considered to have the best schools in the county. It is an upper class area, though its far from being one of the more expensive areas of town. Median home values there are very likely over 500k, if not significantly higher. You should be able to find some nice apartments in or around Poway.

As for utility bills, depends on alot of factors of course. I have a one bedroom condo thats under 700 sq ft. I live alone, and am somewhat conscious of conserving energy. My electric & gas totals about $20-25 per month. As for auto insurance, I have no way to tell you other than what I pay, and of course that too could vary widely depending on your vehicle and record. I hear that San Diego auto insurance is WAY lower than that in Los Angeles. But I have no comparison to offer with other areas of the country. Call your insurance agent and they can give you a quote.

Weather here is BORING. Sunny and mild, or partly cloudy and mild, virtually every day of the year...including Christmas day. If that sounds like a complaint, well, I guess it is. I enjoy seeing the weather change. I enjoy watching storms develop. I enjoy a good electrical storm. But in San Diego you can count the number of electrical storms you'll witness in a year on one hand. And of those, maybe one of them will actually be close enough to your home to be exciting (and it will probably happen in the middle of the night, and it won't even wake you up). On the bright side, if you want snow during the winter, its only a 1 hour drive away, and you can play in the surf in the morning and play in the snow in the afternoon on the same day.

As for buying a home...wait. Rent for a year, and I'll wager you'll see housing prices plummet to more affordable levels. And then you'll also have a much better idea of where you want to buy after living here for awhile.

If you want to ask more specific questions, I'd be happy to give more info.

Congrats on the job!

[Runtheball]

Oh, and another thing....
Our football team sucks. I mean they just SUCK. I've seen teams suck before, but this is the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked!

(regards to Homer)

[EagleFan]

Thanks for the info. I'll have more questions as I find out if this is happening or not. The recruiter keeps giving me a very bright spin on things but it's been a little while since the initial phone interview and there still hasn't been a move made by the company. The recruiter tells me that's normal and not to worry. But they are like sports agents, spawns of Satan (and not the one playing for Buffalo).

Thanks for the FYI on Oceanside, I was wondering why I found a lot of much more affordable appartments in that town.

As far as the neighborhood goes, I don't really care what kind of people live there, just want to live with law abiding citizens. The place that I live right now is starting to go to hell quickly. A known drug dealer moved in and right after that there were a bunch of the long-timers that moved and the new bunch has not been the best of people to move near you. Such as some white trash (trailer trash) family with 3 teenagers and a single mom. She has no control over her kids and they are often out at 2 or 3 in the morning talking (or shouting to each other in an attempt to make a conversation) with their friends, or argueing, or blasting their music. Of course the weirdest part is the accused drug dealer has actually been a better neighbor than many of the others that have moved in recently. He's actually civil and neighborly when you see him getting his mail or walking his pit bull.

To me, this is like a new beginning if I can get this job. Just kind of move out there and hit reset on my life after the past year of being unemployed and building up debt out the ass.

[EagleFan]

Dola: And for the football thing, I just need to get DirecTV for that NFL Season Ticket (or whatever the plan is called). That way I can keep seeing my Eagles.

[sabotai]

"- Just what is the weather like around San Diego (I keep hearing perfect all year round but that always seems to be on the ites that are advertising for vacations)?"

Imagine what the summer is like in our area (on average) minus all the humidity.

"I enjoy seeing the weather change. I enjoy watching storms develop. I enjoy a good electrical storm."

I'm with you Runtheball! I love weather. I'm a weather geek. BUT, the one thing I can not stand is humidity. I LOATHE humidity.

"just want to live with law abiding citizens."

I'm afraid you'll probably have to move to Canada for something like that.

[MrBug708]

The Temecula area is growing, that's about 35-40 minutes from Northern San Diego county

[Chief Rum]

Originally posted by EagleFan
I may be getting a job offer for a position outside of San Diego. I was wondering a few things about the area.

- What areas on the outskirts of San Diego are nice, especially school disctrict wise?

I can't really offer much here, except that I have heard much of what RunTheBall said. There a bunch of nice areas in north San Diego county, and east of San Diego as well. Also, the southern end of Orange County is a very nice area, and is only about 45 minutes drive to downtown San Diego (if you get good traffic on the 5). House prices are especially high there, though. I second the Temecula mention and other areas in south Riverside County. That area is seeing a lot of growth right now.

- What areas should I avoid (I don't want to have to worry about getting caught in the cross-fire of a gang related drive-by)?

Aren't you an USC alum? You know what area to avoid. I don't know much about Oceanside, but it wouldn't surprise me if that was a bad area. I'm afraid I don't know of the bad areas too much in San Diego County, although I suspect there might be some poor communities south of San Diego (what little room there is for cities down there).

- What is car insurance like in California?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA....oh man, good...wait...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...(driving in California sucks)

- What kind of utility bills should I expect?

I wish I was living where RunTheBall is. I pay about $20 for gas per month and upwards of $60-80 for electric. I guess the power problems missed San Diego County.

- Just what is the weather like around San Diego (I keep hearing perfect all year round but that always seems to be on the ites that are advertising for vacations)?

As has been stated, it's not just advertising for vacations. It really is sunny and mild all year long. I find actual weather and season changes interesting, but I prefer the consistency of the weather here. It isn't quite as flat and similar all the time, but after a while it will feel that way. It does get cold at night in the winter months, sometimes as low as the 40s, and while we see rain rarely, when it comes, it can often come back and return in spurts for long periods of time. You will also notice a lot of breeziness in the spring and falls from the Santa Ana winds. And, of course, it will be very hot for stretches (and not just summer--you'll see it anytime from March to November). I have lived here all my life, and I can never get over some of our beautiful and cool twilights in the fall and spring and when I can walk around in my shorts and a T-shirt at 10 o'clock at night most of the year and not worry bout getting cold.

Hey, RunTheBall, I gotta go. My damn weiner kids are listening.

CR

[sabotai]

In response to Rummy Rum Rum's outburst of laughter about the car insurance question, New Jersey pays more in car insurance than any other state (except MAYBE Washington DC). Driving in NJ sucks WAY more than it ever could in any other state. Trust me. Try driving on the New Jersey Turnpike at around 5:30 or 6 o'clock on a weekday, or at the same time drive across any bridge going from Philly to NJ or New York to NJ, or on the Garden State Parkway, or on Route 1, or on any other major New Jersey roadway at the same time....oh god....I'm panicing just thinking about it. Where's my Zanex...WHERE'S MY ZANEX!?!?!

[Chief Rum]

Originally posted by sabotai
In response to Rummy Rum Rum's outburst of laughter about the car insurance question, New Jersey pays more in car insurance than any other state (except MAYBE Washington DC). Driving in NJ sucks WAY more than it ever could in any other state. Trust me. Try driving on the New Jersey Turnpike at around 5:30 or 6 o'clock on a weekday, or at the same time drive across any bridge going from Philly to NJ or New York to NJ, or on the Garden State Parkway, or on Route 1, or on any other major New Jersey roadway at the same time....oh god....I'm panicing just thinking about it. Where's my Zanex...WHERE'S MY ZANEX!?!?!

Let's just say it sucks in both places and leave it at that, eh?

I believe it is crappy in New Jersey. That area has allt he same potential for problems as Southern California does, with the added bonus of worse weather and snowfall.

California has ridiculously high requirements for cars to pass its smog tests, more than any other state last I checked, since we have this little ole smog problem you have probably heard of.

Insurance is required here for just about anything to do with a car now, and the state governemnt has done little to stop the overcharging the insurance companies out here can get away with because of it.

Have you heard of the car tax? Yeah, that's a little something we got going on out here that you may have heard of, since it is snarled up in the whole recall election thing.

Registration for vehicles is also ridiculously high, and since we have crappier mass transit systems and live across greater areas, just about everyone has to drive out here. Ever heard "Walking In LA" by Berlin? It makes for a funny 80s song, but it's also the truth (and it hasn't changed).

Now toss in a good percentage (I would guess 15%-20%) of drivers without insurance (most often because they are illegal or because they simply can't afford it), and you see some other huge problems.

And, ah yes, traffic. You think we can't come up with something to rival New Jersey's traffic? You must have missed those reports that had five of the ten most congested freeway stretches in the country right here in the Southland. You want fun? Try to get through the Orange Crush in an hour. Or fight through the logjam on the 91 at various points (my favorite is the stretch where you go from Orange to Riverside County--no exits and a three-mile stretch of nothing but parking lot in "motion"). How about trying to get in or out of downtown LA on the 10 or the 110 or the 5 during peak hours? Or you can always go up to the 405-5 interchange in the Valley, which has all sorts of other goodies running along the 210-118-110 routes. The El Cajon pass between the High Desert and San berbardino County is another good one.

And you haven't met California drivers. We have the highest per capita stupid, cell-phone-using, road-rage-burning idiot drivers, and then we also have a lot of old fogies in big cars, young gangbangers with guns, and (my apologies to our Asian posters) but a lot of very, very bad older Asian women drivers. You may think that is racist, and you may have a point, but, man, I live here, and that's the simple truth. They are probably the sweetest ladies you would ever know, but they can't drive for shit, and we have a large Asian population.

I actually struggle to get by taking a bus and am not anxious to leap back into driving. You getting an idea why?

Chief Rum

EDIT: Added "drivers" after very, very bad older Asian women for clarity.

[sabotai]

"California has ridiculously high requirements for cars to pass its smog tests, more than any other state last I checked, since we have this little ole smog problem you have probably heard of."

No, but I have heard of commie hippies. Are they part of that problem too? (Yes, the smog. It's like smoking a cigar made of petrolium 24/7.)

"Have you heard of the car tax?"

Actually, I have not. What is it?

"We have the highest per capita stupid, cell-phone-using, road-rage-burning idiot drivers, and then we also have a lot of old fogies in big cars, young gangbangers with guns, and (my apologies to our Asian posters) but a lot of very, very bad older Asian women."

That I beleive. Fuckin Californians.....god I hate those people.

"Let's just say it sucks in both places and leave it at that, eh?"

Yes, we can agree to that.

[Chief Rum]

Well, basically the car tax is attached to vehicle registration. It was enacted a few years ago to pay for a bunch of things, like funding the DMV, improving roads, more highway patrolmen, things like that.

That sounds good, I suppose, but then you have to consider that California, even at its lower levels of car taxing, is still taxing twice as much more than the next highest state.

The big thing that made this a huge issue was soon-to-be-thrown-out-on-his-ass current governor Gray Davis's decision to approve a tripling of the car tax. That's right, three times as much for a once a year tax that was already the highest in the nation. This was supposedly because of sagging state revenues and the need for more state revenue (don't get me started there).

Needless to say, the car tax is pretty unpopular, but accepted. Its tripling by Davis was extremely unpopular, and was a leading contributor to the effort to recall him. Some might even say it was THE reason.

Current candidates are all promising to reduce and even eliminate the car tax if they get in office (predictably). I certainly hope they follow suit, even though I don't even have a car right now.

Chief Rum

[henry296]

Just a quick note on Oceanside. It is very close to Camp Pendleton, one of the largest Marine Bases in the country so it is a high military concentration and therefore lots of apartments. I wouldn't want to live there.

Todd

[clintl]

Originally posted by Chief Rum
Well, basically the car tax is attached to vehicle registration. It was enacted a few years ago to pay for a bunch of things, like funding the DMV, improving roads, more highway patrolmen, things like that.

That sounds good, I suppose, but then you have to consider that California, even at its lower levels of car taxing, is still taxing twice as much more than the next highest state.

The big thing that made this a huge issue was soon-to-be-thrown-out-on-his-ass current governor Gray Davis's decision to approve a tripling of the car tax. That's right, three times as much for a once a year tax that was already the highest in the nation. This was supposedly because of sagging state revenues and the need for more state revenue (don't get me started there).

Needless to say, the car tax is pretty unpopular, but accepted. Its tripling by Davis was extremely unpopular, and was a leading contributor to the effort to recall him. Some might even say it was THE reason.

Current candidates are all promising to reduce and even eliminate the car tax if they get in office (predictably). I certainly hope they follow suit, even though I don't even have a car right now.

Chief Rum

That is not completely accurate, CR. The car tax has been around for decades, and was slashed by 2/3 just a few years ago. This "tripling" of the car tax is actually a restoration of the tax to previous levels. It's basically a property tax of 2% of your car's value.

It's not that I don't understand why people are upset about the issue, especially those that just bought new cars in the last few years. It's really screwing with their personal budgets.

[Runtheball]

Eagle Fan,
In what part of town is your potential employer located? If I knew that I could offer more suggestions about where to live. One thing you have to know is that you DO NOT want to have to drive southbound to your workplace if you live north of the 8 freeway. Traffic southbound in the morning on the 5 and 15, (and northbound in the late afternoon) sucks! And its only going to get worse.

Temecula (mentioned above) is a good suggestion. To me it seems a little far to drive every day (its an hour north of downtown San Diego, without traffic), but if your work is in Carlsbad, Oceanside, Escondido, Poway, it wouldn't be a bad drive. Certainly a nice area with alot of new construction, and relatively affordable.

Chief Rum: As for LA traffic, Once on a drive from SLO to San Diego, I spent 3 hours just getting from Calabasas to Mission Viejo during rush hour. My throat and nose were burning from the smog. I nearly lost my voice from screaming at the cars in front of me. And that's when I decided that all the freeway shootings of that time were justifiable. If I had a gun in my car that day, I'd be typing this from prison right now.

[EagleFan]

It's in Lakeside, the Barona Casino.

[Franklinnoble]

California sucks. Worst state government in the USA. It'd be a nice place to live if the entire coastline to about fifty miles inland just fell of into the Pacific in the middle of the night.

[Runtheball]

OK, Barona is actually a little way outside of Lakeside, along a really nice winding "country road" through rocky hills with alot of oaks and chaparral. I'm guessing you'll love the drive!

Lakeside and the adjacent towns of Santee and El Cajon are....what's the word..."affordable"? I lived in Santee for a few years while I was in high school and know those towns really well. They are filled with apartments and are some of the more affordable areas in San Diego. These are not among the nicer parts of town, but I don't think you'll need to worry about gang activity. You may even consider a slightly longer drive and live in Alpine, which is a nice community at the lower part of the mountains east of San Diego. It should be very affordable (and much nicer) there.

[Poli]

Move to Coronado .

Well, maybe not. Too many sailors.

[Poli]

Originally posted by Runtheball
OK, Barona is actually a little way outside of Lakeside, along a really nice winding "country road" through rocky hills with alot of oaks and chaparral. I'm guessing you'll love the drive!

Lakeside and the adjacent towns of Santee and El Cajon are....what's the word..."affordable"? I lived in Santee for a few years while I was in high school and know those towns really well. They are filled with apartments and are some of the more affordable areas in San Diego. These are not among the nicer parts of town, but I don't think you'll need to worry about gang activity. You may even consider a slightly longer drive and live in Alpine, which is a nice community at the lower part of the mountains east of San Diego. It should be very affordable (and much nicer) there.

I'll agree here, for sure. Most of my buddies onboard lived in El Cajon.

[EagleFan]

This has just become moot, I've been offered a position around here. I thank everyone for your replies though. If they hadn't drug there feet I most likely would be looking to put a deposit down on an apartment right about now somewhere in SoCal. It's a mixed emotion though as the chance to just start from scratch was an idea that I liked but had to juggle it with the idea of moving away from friends and family and the logistics of moving out there.

[Poli]

I feel so used.

Best of luck, EagleFan!

[EagleFan]

Thanks, but come on, being on a ship full of sailors, I'm sure you've been used before.

How long is not for long? You coming back home soon too?

[Poli]

I'm coming home very soon. I'll be in San Diego in less than a week. I've been on deployment since the beginning of March.

Note, it's not the ship, just me that will be in SD. Don't want to be accused of passing out info on ship movements.

[Runtheball]

Good luck with the new position, EagleFan!