[quote=eclipxe]1. You won’t be considered a freak or worse and the law enforcement won’t hassle you. Everyone seems to think the area is a large void of houses where people shut their doors at 6pm and aren’t to be seen until they wake up to sludge their way to San Diego in the morning. This is not necessarily the case. You will find people walking and biking on most major streets. I live in Harveston currently and there are almost always folks out biking or walking around the development – folks of all ethnic profiles, young, old, men, women, etc.
Because Temecula is newer (and most streets have been recently widened or construced) you will find the majority have usable bike lanes. There are older roads in some parts of town that do not have easy bike access but you are concerned with biking to retail and commercial activities. This will mainly be focused on the northern part of town along highway 79, which is very bike friendly. (I regularly bike this route, so I’m pretty familiar). Traffic is heavy so be careful.
2. The age of the home will dearly impact your electricity costs. An average summer day in my old 2000sqft place built 99 was about $400. My newer place (2005, 2400sqft) has CFLs throughout and a better AC unit. I averaged about $150 this last summer. Then again, this last summer was mild. I ran my office fan most of the day and it was sufficient.[/quote]
Thanks eclipxe, that was very enlightening. Most of my experiences in Temecula date back to the middle and late ’90s, back when essential services were inconvenient to reach by car, let alone by muscle power. (And oh, the backed-up traffic at the southbound 79 offramp.) If the newer developments were designed to be more human-friendly, that’s great.
As for ethnic profiling and the car-less sticking out like a sore thumb … those comments were based on my experiences in parts of Orange County. so maybe I’m the one who’s been picking the wrong places to live 🙂 I don’t mean to say that people cower behind their locked doors and emerge only to walk the Rottweiler, but I have noticed that if you’re the one always seen walking, biking, etc. around car-oriented suburban neighborhoods, people get suspicious and odd rumors get started. Especially if something gets stolen or vandalized.
I’d mentioned utility bills to emphasize California’s high electric rates. Then I found out Texas recently deregulated, with much the same experience as California, so I guess the OP won’t be in for that much of a shock 🙂
