This is the weirdest thread I’ve seen here in a while.
Santee isn’t a bad town and I don’t know why it’s taking a beating. The crime rate out there is more or less like all of the El Cajon valley, which itself is like other regions: Oceanside/Vista, Escondido/San Marcos, Chula Vista/National City.
Yeah, the weather’s hot, but it’s no worse in Santee than anywhere else along the I-15 corridor, like Poway, Escondido, Fallbrook and points north.
There’s almost as much employment in the El Cajon area as there is in northern SD. Sure, it’s not biotech but then again most businesses aren’t biotech.
I can well imagine Santee being a better location for commuting for some people than northern SD county – it depends on where the job is. Santee is a lot more central to employment than Temecula is.
As for schools, well that’s what you make of it. I think parental involvement is a lot more meaningful to a kids education than test scores or how homogenous the population is. The schools always seem to offer the bright kids all the opportunities they need to thrive. Not paying the extra $300k it takes to live in Carlsbad or Torrey Pines probably makes it a lot easier to pay for a private school that’s tons better than those school districts.
Seriously, not everyone has to be the cool edgy hip urban type and shoot for the prestige address. It’s okay to like
Downtown or North Park or Mira Mesa or Spring Valley or Chula Vista. If I didn’t surf I could do okay in Temecula or Murietta. Or Santee. Just don’t make me move to Carmel Valley or 4s.