[quote=Russell]Is there any place in the county that is more cloistered by freeways than Clairemont? Where are kids supposed to play without the major risk or a drive by abduction? Tiny little parks on busy surface streets . . . [/quote]
I just can’t resist jousting Russell’s comments. Wow, Russell, where do YOU live that’s superior to Clairemont?? Could it be . . . Jamul??? omg, better have an acct. with a muffler shop!! Getting into some of those driveways out there can be challenging unless you’re driving a lifted truck – LOL. Oh, and I know two “executives” that purchased out there during the “bubble,” and have since spent a small fortune on remodeling, concrete, fill dirt, etc. Alas, the area has CRATERED in value and they are SO UNDERWATER, cash-wise. Still there, because they have so much CASH INVESTED. What else can they do??
I live in an urban downtown area “surrounded by fwys” (Chula) and see six year olds riding their bikes everywhere, even to mom and pop stores and Seven-Eleven to buy milk. Many 80+ year old people walk with their walkers or ride their scooters daily and well as all other ages, some 2-3x day, same route. NOBODY has wrought iron on the windows, very few have alarm systems and children play in the front yards and play ball in the street and sidewalks. Even developmentally disabled adults find their way home successfully from the bus stop after attending “Day School.” If ANYONE is vulnerable, these people are. We have plenty of parks and BIG back yards but for the most part, neighbors are social. Many are too old to drive. For the most part, this is the safest, most “Leave it to Beaver” ‘hood I have ever lived in.
[quote=Russell] I see the overall atmosphere in the area as not conducive to what I consider comfortable family living compared to that which can be had on relatively equal terms otherwise….[/quote]
Russell, if my l-o-o-o-o-ng memory serves me correctly, the “abductions” here I’ve been privy to the details of have been “crimes of opportunity:”
1) boys riding bikes every day home from school on trail surrounded by 8′ Donax Reed (Nestor)
2) parents high, partying, and asleep at the switch (Sabre Springs)
3) teenage girl walking home alone from bus stop on trail surrounded by 8′ Donax Reed (Bonita)
4) young woman stopped under dark fwy viaduct at Mercy Rd. (opportunity AND trust & authority due to badge) (PQ)
5) young boy in beach bathroom alone with no male escort while aunt waited outside (O’Side)
6) 4th grade girl riding bike on nearby cyn rim alone (North Park)
The only little girl that I remember getting plucked out of her front yard lived in Otay Mesa, on a busy street.
The recent incidences of the murders of two teenagers in RB, one on a public and open jogging trail are very sad. Neither should have been alone but who was to know?? I might have at one time jogged alone on the same trail. The perpetrator was classified by CDC as a sexually violent predator. This is a completely different animal than your “garden variety” sex registrant in that the condition is incurable. Of course, he should have early on been sentenced indefinitely to a state mental institution.
Even if two nine year olds are TOGETHER riding bikes or walking, it will severely lessen the odds that either will be abducted (staying in public sight and not inside 8’ Donax Reed).
You can’t worry about every single citizen living in a particular area that has had to “register” as a sex-offender at one time or another. Most pled guilty or were convicted 20, 30, or 40 or more years ago of “molesting” a relative or family friend and have had no incident since. I lived in Bonita in an era where its feeder middle and high schools had a “CA Distinguished School” label. Yet during that whole time there were no less than six “sex registrants” living within a 3 block radius of us. I’m NOT on the side of the “criminal” but you need to train your kids on what is acceptable and unacceptable behavior from adults and that they are not obligated to be respectful of a person just because they’re an adult. If anyone were to try to abduct or attack one of them, G@d help the attacker as it would be very ugly and noisy.
Bet. ’90 and ’92, I conducted some very successful open houses ALONE on listings located in 92113, 92114, 91945, 92154, 92139 and 91977, always wearing a dress or skirt and pumps. Out of those zips, my listing off 44th St., just south the beautiful Greenwood Cemetery grounds (Mtn. View 92113) , a little well-built house I sold for $107K, was in the quietest ‘hood. I might have had pepper spray in my possession during those open houses but never had to use it. There were no cell phones. I had a pager and sometimes a house phone. Never had one problem whatsoever and drugs, burglary and auto theft were MUCH more of a problem then than now.
If a potential buyer has a cap of say $500K to spend on a property and then discounts a zip code or neighborhood because they perceive it to be too near a fwy (subjective), has registered sex offenders living nearby, don’t “think” they’ll like the schools, perceive it to be “blue collar,” perceive it to be “too old,” only see “old people” when driving around, worry about nearby “shopping,” perceive it to be too “ghetto,” etc., then they may as well move to the middle of Montana because they won’t find anything in SD County that “meets their needs.” After they get settled in “Montana,” they may realize a neighbor or two has built an underground fortress with their own fortified arsenals in preparation for “Armageddon” – LOL!
Here’s a common SD example of “mistaken perception.” A very high percentage of 92107 lives on public assistance, incl. TANF, SSI, SSD, VA Disability, SDI, worker’s comp, etc., but its SFR value is higher than avg. with many properties exceeding $1M in value. You could drive along a couple of the main sts there and assume it’s “ghetto, working class, party-town, hangout for runaways and beach bums,” etc. But that couldn’t be further from the truth because YOU can’t afford to live there unless you have a section 8 voucher or rent an apt. on a transient day/week/month st.
Keep an open mind. Don’t “label” a community unless you have intimate knowledge of it. ‘Nuff said.
