Tell me about Sacramento (Oakland, Compton: real estate, neighborhood, income)

[hydro]

debating the small details
(paragraph structure), the absence of physical gates, charter vs private schools... doesn't change the fact that you HAVE to live in an enclave if you want lower crime, and there are gates, you just can't see them, and the key that you need to get in to these "gated" communities comes in the form of a fico score and tax returns, and now, for a paragraph overrun and poorly planned as it is not an essay but an internet forum post...

charter schools and private schools are both an alternative to public school. If the public school is a bus pass, then the charter school is a toyota and the private school is the lexus. The charter and the private both get you from point A to point B and are designed to get you off the bus. Yes, the public schools have become "innovative"... but necessity is the mother of invention and better late than never, after heavy boycotting and declining numbers was there really a choice, "ooh, you are SO innovative..."

Oh, yes, I am not against public transportation. As long as I am in Norway. Or drunk in Portland.

[ryuns]

Sheesh--I was joking about the one sentence paragraph. Regardless of the location written text is posted, readability is still a nice feature for people who are actually taking the time to read what you're writing.

The issues that you dismiss as small details, implying that it's a mere semantical differences, are, I think more important than that. We can continue to argue those finer points, but it may not be a good use of our time.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by bluevelo

I've lived all over the US, and aside from the weather, you don't get much for your money in California, and the state's generous welfare system has ended up, in conjunction with Prop 13, in destroying the school system and squeezing the middle class out of the state as it looks more and more like Brazil every day - gated communities of the rich with their private schools and nothing for anyone else that actually wants to work, and not have the tax money used for billionaire arena subsidies and being given to whomever rich liberals define as "the poor".

The Seranno Decision predated Prop 13 and forever changed how California schools are funded?

No discussion of California Public education is complete without Seranno.

[marland]

Originally Posted by hydro

debating the small details
(paragraph structure), the absence of physical gates, charter vs private schools... doesn't change the fact that you HAVE to live in an enclave if you want lower crime, and there are gates, you just can't see them, and the key that you need to get in to these "gated" communities comes in the form of a fico score and tax returns, and now, for a paragraph overrun and poorly planned as it is not an essay but an internet forum post...

charter schools and private schools are both an alternative to public school. If the public school is a bus pass, then the charter school is a toyota and the private school is the lexus. The charter and the private both get you from point A to point B and are designed to get you off the bus. Yes, the public schools have become "innovative"... but necessity is the mother of invention and better late than never, after heavy boycotting and declining numbers was there really a choice, "ooh, you are SO innovative..."

Oh, yes, I am not against public transportation. As long as I am in Norway. Or drunk in Portland.

I question whether gated communities work with respect to lowering crime. I have friends who bought a home in a gated community in Southern California. First all of the kids tell all of the other kids what the gate codes are so there friends can come and visit them. So all of the local neighborhood kids and there friends know all of the gate codes in the area and when they grow up and go to high school they still know these codes. Second, think about all of the people who come into a neighborhood to provide goods and services - the repair people, the cleaning ladies, the garderners, the UPS, the Postal workers, lots of people end up knowing gate codes.

While crime might be lower in these neighborhoods, I think its mostly a function of socio-economics than the fact that gates of the gated community are keeping undesirable types out of the neighborhood. I know my friends who currently live in a gated community have found the gates more of a hindrance than anything else.

[Ultrarunner]

Some of the gated communities around here have a attendant that logs ID and vehicle info... plus a vehicle image with plate.

Very little in the way of theft.

[ryuns]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

Some of the gated communities around here have a attendant that logs ID and vehicle info... plus a vehicle image with plate.

Very little in the way of theft.

Sounds effective, and rather expensive. Do you have a sense of what those types of HOA's cost?

Semi-non sequitur observation: My homeowner's insurance costs relatively little (while including quite a lot) that I have to imagine that the actuarial risk of theft from the insurer's perspective is incredibly low. Obviously far more to it than "money and things", but I still find the comparison interesting.

The limited street connectivity and extra difficulty for visitors makes gates a non-starter for me. Friend of mine who lives in a gated community in Natomas has all her friends park outside the gate and props the pedestrian entrance open with a rock! Fortunately, she's the closest home in the community to the gate so it's not a long walk.

[marland]

Minimum wage in California is $8 an hour. If the gate has an attendant 24 hours a day, 365 days a year that means at a minimum you need to come up with $70K each year just for the attendant. (8*24*365=70,080). That number doesn't include the employers share of the withholding taxes, it doesn't include the expense of building both for the attendant to sit in as well as the cost of heating and cooling it as well as liability insurance in case he does something wrong like molesting a kid or something.This cost has to come out of the HOA dues. If I had to guess I imagine that hiiring actual humans to act as attendant to log ID and vehicle info is likely adding an additional $100,000 a year to the HOA expense. So if your HOA has a 50 homes in it, it adds an additional $167 [(100000/50)/12=167] a month to your HOA dues. So if the HOA dues on your gated community with just call box and a gate were $70 a month adding an actual human attendant probably would raise your HOA dues to $237 a month.

Remember money spent on HOA dues is month that isn't spent on the mortgage. Moreover these monthly dues will go as the minimum wage go up. So unlike your mortgage these dues won't get paid down and eliminated over time, they will just keep going up.

[wburg]

Being in a gated community vs. a non-gated community has basically no effect on crime--they tend to get built in remote areas, or low-crime areas. And consider how much time, care and effort goes into your fast food, prepared by minimum wage employees--now imagine the time, care and effort a minimum wage security guard puts into diligently guarding the door of a neighborhood they will never be able to afford.

[Ultrarunner]

Just about all the ones I can think of are master planned communities with golf courses...

I've seen them in Palm Springs and the around the Bay Area.

Here is a link to one...

Blackhawk, California - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[kharken]

Looking forward to working in sacramento. Is it a good place to work? I'm currently living in Delano and job opportunities within the area are kinda low (especially technology jobs). What areas in Sac are good places to stay in? Where are tech companies located?

This may help.
- Renting but would be buying in the future (possibly rent to own if there are)
- suburban (though rural may be quieter)
- availability of public transportation (but can drive)
- absolutely a no-no to heavy traffic
- not very expensive
- recreational parks
- quiet