Jump to content

The cons of living in Sacramento


Dottleshead

Recommended Posts

From a reader on www.quora.com:

Cons:

  • Sacramento is the state capital and depending on where you find yourself it can feel like an overly political town
  • California in general can be an expensive state for cost of living gas prices, housing, groceries .. it all costs more in CA.  Example: when gas was $2.50 a gallon in CA I moved to Oklahoma for a year and it was .89 cents a gallon there. 
  • Pollution/Allergens: even if you do not currently have allergies you may very well develop them after living here for several years. This is the top end of the 'central valley' which is a farming area and all the industrial waste + all the farming pollens and all the pollution from the bay area blows in and settles down here in the Sacramento Valley as it can't go any farther as the foothills to the mountains begin shortly after.  Its nothing compared to the pollution in LA basin but still compared to many other areas in the nation it is a lot to walk in to.
  • Homeless : there are quit a lot of homeless around and pan handlers. The homeless are everywhere downtown and all the suburbs. We aren't dealing with the homelessness very well here and this could be a perceived con. Pan handlers populate many major intersection hanging out in the divide with various signs asking for you money.  I feel bad for these people and support using our tax dollars to help them - but that does not appear to be happening so this may be a perceived con to you.
  • Sacramento has started using "Red Light" cameras that are contracted to a company in Arizona over the past few years. One such red light camera is at Fair Oaks and Watt and when they put it in they changed the timing on the yellow light cycle to be much shorter.  I got caught even knowing this with a $680 'red light' ticket ; which was really turning on a yellow and getting caught by the superfast red.  Do you want to live in a town that can cost you an extra $680 or so every now and then when you miss the timing on a light? Without a police officer even being involved?
  •  

https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-living-in-Sacramento-California

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cons:

(1) hot summers. Triple digits sometimes. But in the evening you almost always have the Delta breeze. A whole house fan is a must, IMO.

(2) very few really good restaurants, if you're used to that.

(3) you don't find urban sophistication or intellectualism.

(3) some areas are full.of concrete and strip malls, with close minded rednecky people.

(4) the city utility bills are outrageous if you own your house ($140/mo), and they go up every year.

(5) city just built a new stadium on taxpayers dime for the loser basketball team

 

I like that she uses two (3)'s to make her points -- especially about intellectualism and rednecky people.  Awesome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cons -

It can be very hot in the summers in Sacramento.

It can be hard to find work in the Sacramento area. If you move to Sacramento with a job, but quit or get laid off, finding replacement work is difficult.

Traffic is pretty bad on 50 and I80.

It is a government city, capitol city, and these two combine to sometimes be negative.

It can at times be a little back water meaning, culturally, it is not as sophisticated as LA or SF.

It is 2 hours from the Ocean.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cons:

Weather is very hot, usually near or over 100 for most of summer. There are only 2 seasons.hot season, and rainy season.

Crime is high in many areas.

Not much to do unless you want to watch the home team lose a basketball game, or sit in traffic.

There are basically 3 freeways in a metro area approaching 3 million population.

Bay area residents being driven out by high cost of living and the first place many end up is Sacramento, since its close by and much more affordable. In late 2016 and early 2017 the traffic and overcrowding started becoming unbearable, the price of everything is going thru the roof and homelessness is skyrocketing.

Government corruption is extremely high. This may be more of a ca problem than just Sacramento though.

The police will shoot you first ask questions later. Horrible, violent police force, seemingly every week someone is executed on the street for not obeying commands fast enough, or some petty reason. Elk Grove pd is even worse than sac, they will ticket you for anything and everything, or handcuff then shoot you.

Not a lot of great restaurants for a city this size. Tons of chain restaurants and small Mexican, middle eastern or Chinese food places in strip malls all over sac county, but few fresh, healthy options other than a few places in, around midtown where parking is a challenge.

Not kid friendly unless you live in one of surrounding suburbs like Elk Grove, Roseville, Folsom.

Voters are not the brightest. They fall for any corporate trick as long as you tell them it's for a good cause. (Example. ban grocery bags to save the world, then sell you the bags instead of give them to you)

Which reminds me. Bring your own grocery bags to the store or carry a armful of oranges, beer bottles and toilet paper across the parking lot.

All of California has gone to hell in a handbasket so you can't blame Sacramento for all of its problems. It's a state with a one party political system, so terrible ideas often go unchecked and the result is what you see today.

Long gone is the paradise people used to imagine when they thought of California. It's now a cess pool of record homelessness, soaring crime, govt and police corruption, rapidly shrinking middle class, and extremely wealthy coastal elites inflicting their mindless utopianism on everyone who can't afford to endure the consequences of it like they can.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, Duckbag said:

I think this would be a big pro, I would love to hang out with Page Turner!  I would try and convince him to change his name back to 'No One' because I liked it better.  It would probably be harder for him to endure me.

Page is a good guy. So was No One. I like to tease him about the 'Tomato though. Good times.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

....3alarmer is a big jerk.  The rest of that stuff is probably true, but hopefully it will encourage the people who wrote that stuff to move on. There are so many whiny bitches out there on the local streets already, we don't need any  more of them. One of the strange and unexpected effects of climate change has been that we get a lot less tule fog in the winters now.  There's both good and bad in that.

I just got back from the River Park Garden Club first annual garden tour.  Of the six gardens selected for it, only two were worth seeing, so another example of how this is a terrible place. :) 

  • Heart 2
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Sacramento has started using "Red Light" cameras that are contracted to a company in Arizona over the past few years. One such red light camera is at Fair Oaks and Watt and when they put it in they changed the timing on the yellow light cycle to be much shorter.  I got caught even knowing this with a $680 'red light' ticket."

The did the same kind of trick in Baltimore at several places, until enough people screamed for them to take it down.  For example, on the west end of Baltimore's Hanover Street Bridge, the speed limit suddenly drops 10 mph for no reason and the only sign announcing it is on the right as the road curves left.  They caught a lot of people with that one - most of them going 0-5 mph over the previous speed limit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Dottie said:

Long gone is the paradise people used to imagine when they thought of California. It's now a cess pool of record homelessness, soaring crime, govt and police corruption, rapidly shrinking middle class, and extremely wealthy coastal elites inflicting their mindless utopianism on everyone who can't afford to endure the consequences of it like they can.

 

I thought they were bitching about Sacto? The whole state apparently blows.... But If you want to believe that statement fine by me, we have enough transplants trying to live the CA dream.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I thought they were bitching about Sacto? The whole state apparently blows.... But If you want to believe that statement fine by me, we have enough transplants trying to live the CA dream.

Nah. I laugh at 'em. No doubt a Fox News viewer. I thought some of those statements were comical.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, MickinMD said:

"Sacramento has started using "Red Light" cameras that are contracted to a company in Arizona over the past few years. One such red light camera is at Fair Oaks and Watt and when they put it in they changed the timing on the yellow light cycle to be much shorter.  I got caught even knowing this with a $680 'red light' ticket."

The did the same kind of trick in Baltimore at several places, until enough people screamed for them to take it down.  For example, on the west end of Baltimore's Hanover Street Bridge, the speed limit suddenly drops 10 mph for no reason and the only sign announcing it is on the right as the road curves left.  They caught a lot of people with that one - most of them going 0-5 mph over the previous speed limit.

...when people started getting wise to the red light cameras, and the revenues dropped off, they started hiring people in that Arizona facility to watch the video footage for right turn on red without coming to a full stop first.  I got one of those.

It's an educational process. The county has made a conscious decision to use this as a way to bolster sagging revenues from other sources like the state.  I suspect it has more of an impact on the poor than on the rich, for who 300-400 bucks is not a big deal.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, MickinMD said:

"Sacramento has started using "Red Light" cameras that are contracted to a company in Arizona over the past few years. One such red light camera is at Fair Oaks and Watt and when they put it in they changed the timing on the yellow light cycle to be much shorter.  I got caught even knowing this with a $680 'red light' ticket."

The did the same kind of trick in Baltimore at several places, until enough people screamed for them to take it down.  For example, on the west end of Baltimore's Hanover Street Bridge, the speed limit suddenly drops 10 mph for no reason and the only sign announcing it is on the right as the road curves left.  They caught a lot of people with that one - most of them going 0-5 mph over the previous speed limit.

I always found it funny how people complain about traffic cameras.  They get challenged all the time and often times dismissed due to administrative or procedural miscues upon deployment.  But at the end of the day you ran a red light or were speeding.  You may not like the speed limit (usually put in place due numerous complaints  and extensive traffic surveys) but it’s still the law.  But it’s entrapment.... I actually had someone tell me that because I was running radar in a blind spot on a downhill.  Entrapment, please.

1 hour ago, Page Turner said:

...when people started getting wise to the red light cameras, and the revenues dropped off, they started hiring people in that Arizona facility to watch the video footage for right turn on red without coming to a full stop first.  I got one of those.

It's an educational process. The county has made a conscious decision to use this as a way to bolster sagging revenues from other sources like the state.  I suspect it has more of an impact on the poor than on the rich, for who 300-400 bucks is not a big deal.

Pretty much this.  The cameras generally do lower speed, illegal turns or running red lights.  People hate them but most adapt to them which is the ultimate goal, stop the behavior.

On cold mornings I’d sometimes set up in a conspicuous place in an area known for speeding, sit in my unit and drink coffee. 

People would drive by and look at me snidely.  I could read their faces, ha fucking pig you didn’t get me.  Me drinking my coffee thinking, ha stupid fucker I got you to obey the speed limit and all I had to do is sit here and drink my coffee....

  • Heart 1
  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

10 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

On cold mornings I’d sometimes set up in a conspicuous place in an area known for speeding, sit in my unit and drink coffee. 

People would drive by and look at me snidely.  I could read their faces, ha fucking pig you didn’t get me.  Me drinking my coffee thinking, ha stupid fucker I got you to obey the speed limit and all I had to do is sit here and drink my coffee....

Awesome. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 minutes ago, Dottie said:

Awesome. 

Not awesome.  Speed cameras are not awesome, it is fucking Skynet-light, designed to separate you from money as efficiently as possible.  They are garbage the citizens don't want and didn't ask for and should be as illegal as fuck forever.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Dickweed said:

Not awesome.  Speed cameras are not awesome, it is fucking Skynight-light, designed to separate you from money as efficiently as possible.  They are garbage the citizens don't want and didn't ask for and should be as illegal as fuck forever.

Don’t speed and it’s not an issue... 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, Dickweed said:

Seriously, though, why is this not voted away?

Why, because not everyone thinks like you.  But if they did, why stop at traffic cameras?  Get rid of radar, speed enforcement, DUI checkpoints and hell make enforcement of traffic illegal.  If you don’t like traffic laws just vote them out of existence and do whatever you want on the roads. 

C’mon man think big.

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

C’mon man think big.

Speed cameras are easy to hate because they are parasitic, and primarily there to generate profit.  Just part of the myriad ways to take your money.

No majority ever thought they were a good idea, ever.  Nobody likes big brother action like that except a few idiots who don't see the big, more intrusive picture that is more and more invasive.    Lots of money, little investment, flimsy reasoning for them as opposed to real cops.  Red light cameras, speed cameras, seatbelt cameras, tail light cameras, check engine light cameras, missing hood ornament cameras, just hidden and oppressive nickel and diming is what it is.  Skynet light, as previously mentioned.  They suck.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pa has stopped giving licence plate stickers to show the registration date. If you miss the notice that is mailed out to collect the fee it would be very easy to forget to renew the registration. Apparently the cop cars have some type of scanner that reads your plate and checks for discrepancies, registration, parking tickets, ect. 

These are trying times we live in. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 minutes ago, Dickweed said:

Speed cameras are easy to hate because they are parasitic, and primarily there to generate profit.  Just part of the myriad ways to take your money.

No majority ever thought they were a good idea, ever.  Nobody likes big brother action like that except a few idiots who don't see the big, more intrusive picture that is more and more invasive.    Lots of money, little investment, flimsy reasoning for them as opposed to real cops.  Red light cameras, speed cameras, seatbelt cameras, tail light cameras, check engine light cameras, missing hood ornament cameras, just hidden and oppressive nickel and diming is what it is.  Skynet light, as previously mentioned.  They suck.

And also correct dangerous behavior by self absorbed shit head drivers but that doesn’t support your point so yeah just shit can them all...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Further said:

Pa has stopped giving licence plate stickers to show the registration date. If you miss the notice that is mailed out to collect the fee it would be very easy to forget to renew the registration. Apparently the cop cars have some type of scanner that reads your plate and checks for discrepancies, registration, parking tickets, ect. 

These are trying times we live in. 

From what I understand this is now illegal for cops but we would run plates just because and see what pops.  In 1988/89 It only took a few seconds to Run a plate on your MDT and with integrated cameras probably quicker.

I’d pull into a skeevy motel parking lot and just roll through and run plates.  Guaranteed at least one car was stolen or the plates didn’t match the car or such.  Easy pickings...

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

And also correct dangerous behavior by self absorbed shit head drivers but that doesn’t support your point so yeah just shit can them all...

So 6 miles over the limit is $680?  That doesn't seem excessive?  How is that correcting anything as opposed to lining someone's pocket?  Mechanized robbery that doesn't correct a behavior is simply robbery.  If you aren't catching someone in the act, you are just taking money.  It is wrong on every level.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 minutes ago, Dickweed said:

So 6 miles over the limit is $680?  That doesn't seem excessive?  How is that correcting anything as opposed to lining someone's pocket?  Mechanized robbery that doesn't correct a behavior is simply robbery.  If you aren't catching someone in the act, you are just taking money.  It is wrong on every level.

I’m not familiar with the actual penalties, is that an actual fine amount?  It does seem steep if so.

We don’t have to agree on the matter and we are not going to convince each other otherwise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I’m not familiar with the actual penalties, is that an actual fine amount?  It does seem steep if so.

We don’t have to agree on the matter and we are not going to convince each other otherwise.

That is crazy talk, we argue to the death!!!  

Heh heh, there can be only one.

Somebody mentioned that was their ticket, was it Dottplug?

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

15 hours ago, Page Turner said:

....3alarmer is a big jerk. 

3A is great, most of the time.

We butt heads occasionally, but I wish I had his patience with the hoi polloi, or his wonderful sense of humor.

He's one of the guys I would like to meet.

 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, late said:

3A is great, most of the time.

We butt heads occasionally, but I wish I had his patience with the hoi polloi, or his wonderful sense of humor.

He's one of the guys I would like to meet.

 

Please......please.....don't do this.

If you continue to praise or even damn with faint praise ....he is apt to carry on doing what he does....which is bad for everyone. The man is the embodiment of the loose morals and self-obsession of a previous generation and I had hoped we had moved on from that. I can understand that being an old person you may have a lingering fondness for times past.... but think of the younger people here.

  • Awesome 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, onbike1939 said:

Please......please.....don't do this.

If you continue to praise or even damn with faint praise ....he is apt to carry on doing what he does....which is bad for everyone. The man is the embodiment of the loose morals and self-obsession of a previous generation and I had hoped we had moved on from that. I can understand that being an old person you may have a lingering fondness for times past.... but think of the younger people here.

You're one of the other ones I'd like to meet.

I hope he keeps carrying on to a ripe old age.

Now that I am actually old, it occurs to me ripe is an odd choice of words to describe that condition.

 

  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

One of the precepts of protecting civil liberties and individual rights in this country is that the authorities should be prohibited from acquiring an unfair advantage in the execution of due process. It is only in the action of enacting the protection of society in general that infringement upon individual rights may occur. If you people were not so  concerned about managing the behavior of people within your little gated community, you would have a wider array of perspectives on the question that would allow you to make better informed judgement. I think even @Razors Edge is afraid to comment on this issue.

cohn.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, late said:

You're one of the other ones I'd like to meet.

I hope he keeps carrying on to a ripe old age.

Now that I am actually old, it occurs to me ripe is an odd choice of words to describe that condition.

 

 

It needn't be.....I mean I sometimes continue to wear my underwear until it crackles...and why not, I'm old and can do what I like.

 

"I grow old ... I grow old ...
I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled."
The love song of Alfred J Prufrock
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, donkpow said:

One of the precepts of protecting civil liberties and individual rights in this country is that the authorities should be prohibited from acquiring an unfair advantage in the execution of due process. It is only in the action of enacting the protection of society in general that infringement upon individual rights may occur. If you people were not so  concerned about managing the behavior of people within your little gated community, you would have a wider array of perspectives on the question that would allow you to make better informed judgement. I think even @Razors Edge is afraid to comment on this issue.

 

The idea is always to strike a balance between competing, or conflicting, rights and interests.

The state has a legitimate interest in protecting itself, and it's citizens. But seeing how this is new tech, it may take a while to strike that balance.

I would  suggest becoming a member of the ACLU. They have a lot on their plate these days.

  • Heart 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, Dickweed said:

So 6 miles over the limit is $680?  That doesn't seem excessive?  How is that correcting anything as opposed to lining someone's pocket?  Mechanized robbery that doesn't correct a behavior is simply robbery.  If you aren't catching someone in the act, you are just taking money.  It is wrong on every level.

 

11 hours ago, ChrisL said:

I’m not familiar with the actual penalties, is that an actual fine amount?  It does seem steep if so.

We don’t have to agree on the matter and we are not going to convince each other otherwise.

...the thing I find offensive about the whole system (as it is set up in Sacramento), is that the larger portion of every fine paid out by a citizen in this county makes its way to the company in Arizona that installed and runs the red light camera system. They're pretty private with the figures, but I checked around when I paid my "right turn on red without a full stop" camera ticket.

Quote

 

In the spirit of the public's right to know, here are the top 3 private companies that make money from red light tickets. These are the names (companies) mentioned mostly in connection with profit motive and their business practices with regard to red light cameras. Some of their affiliations may surprise you.

 

 

1. American Traffic Solutions, Inc.
 

This Arizona-based company bills itself as "a leading provider of technology enabled business and service solutions for Road Safety Camera operations." What they don't tell the public is that one-third of the company is owned by Goldman Sachs, or that they keep up to 86 percent of the profit on their red light cams. Critics say ATS, Inc. is getting rich while the municipalities they supply are barely breaking even after expenses.

https://worldjusticeproject.org/news/3-private-companies-making-money-red-light-tickets

 

So at least in the case of Sacramento, the bulk of the monies collected by what is an automated system, are going to Arizona and a private, for profit entity.  I don't know about other places, but we seem to follow the common model. Meanwhile, the cops here keep wondering why the city and county keep having RIF's and run understaffed.

 

And because of the sheer numbers of additional cases now, the traffic court system has been has been "modified" to discourage any attempt to request a trial. Before this last camera ticket,  I last went to traffic court 20 years ago (maybe more) for a moving violation.  The difference between then and now is striking.  Requesting an actual trial with a judge is discouraged by a number of factors, not the least of which is the guy you appear before initially telling youi that it's probable your fine will go up if you lose at trial.  And you've already blown a day in court on this initial hearing, which is a mandatory appearance.

I honestly cannot come down on the side of favoring this system, even though I'm perfectly willing to admit that it has reduced the most egregious red light running instances that I used to witness all the time at some of our busier intersections.  There has to be a better way to do this, and to keep the money within the jurisdiction where the violation occurs.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...