Chico, California/Sacramento

[Earth_First]

anyone have any information on the location listed here? I am looking at a possible relocation for a career position with a class ii wildland firefighting position on a handcrew for the upcomming season. Just curious about the location, social environment, economy, et. al your basic relocation questions one might have.

Additionally, a few good luck vibes would be pleasant as I desperately NEED this job...thanks in advance!

[SCDem]

1. Good Luck

I think Chico State is known as a party school. Unfortunately the only people I know in Chico (relatives) are ravid Republicans. I wish you the best in getting the job.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

2. Chico a a nice college town.

I don't know a lot about Sacramento but my impressions from my visits (which consisted of hitchhiking through) were not positive.

I'd recommend Chico, though, the biggest negative in my mind is the summer heat.

[musiclawyer]

3. Lots of factors to consider

Chico is a beautifl little college town. Pretty affordable for Calfornia, not that far from SAC airport. There are lots of nice places to live in between especially in the foothills, but the prices go down as you head towards the Valley. Sac and surroundings is not the most glamorous of areas, but it fairly clean and livable, especially if you stay North and East.

[Ladyhawk]

4. Also, the foothills = fundyland

[Kickin_Donkey]

5. That's right up my alley ...

as I live in the cluster of towns exactly halfway between Sacramento and Chico. Chico and Sac are two different areas, Chico being 45 miles north of me, and Sacramento 45 miles to the south. But they are all in the Sacramento Valley.

The Sacramento Valley is a good place to live, fairly easy living. Sacramento is a metropolitan area - sprawling suburbs, congested traffic. But it's not a bad place to live. There's a artistic, liberal element, particularly Downtown and Midtown; and a lot of Democrats ue in part to the large number of minorities and state government workers. The suburbs to the northeast are Repub country. But all in all, it's cool place and people are generally laid back. I'd live there if I had a job in Sac. Housing prices are going up because of the population pressure from the Bay Area.

Chico is a liberal college town with a real countercultural element. I could live there. However it's a liberal island in sea of agricultural and trailer-trash Repugs. Because it's a college town, the rental prices are high, and the population pressure from the Bay Area is pushing up home prices there as well.

The Repubs aside, the Sacramento Valley is livable. Despite the overall conservatism, I find the valley to be a tolerant place. You see a lot of mixed-race couples. Even outside of Chico and Sacramento, there are liberal and Democrats who go about their lives and fight for their causes. There's also Davis, another liberal college town that is home of a UC campus.

The Sierra is accessible from all these places, with roads going straight into the hills. I suspect that, being a firefighter, you don't have a high income. You didn't state exactly where you'll be based. You can cheaper housing in all the little towns between Sac and Chico: Marysville, Oroville (a shithole), Gridley, Biggs, Paradise, Corning, Los Molinos, Hamilton City, Colusa, Durham, and little hill towns.

I was hiking at Feather Falls in the Plumas National Forest last weekend and ran into two off-season firefighters clearing the trail for the USFS. I don't know anything about the firefighting world. Will you be working for the CDF?

I'd say go for it. It's a nice place to live.

[Zinfandel]

6. Very, very hot 105 degrees summers, however a pretty town, Chico State,

very icy cold in the winter, somewhat hip to what's going on...a small fraction have it down, chains stores galore, beautiful women everywhere, (ex co-eds who stayed) lots of trees, Bidwell park, excellent river activity, (ultra-lites, swimming, tubes, etc.) a bit conservative by N CA standards, but, there is a progressive wing...excellent glass blowing work, the radio station's truly suck, Food: is just getting there (a couple of replica's of Cabo) good Italian and some excellent Mexican food...cost of living is very cheap by N CA standards...but one is three hours from the coast...Arcata (Humboldt State) is much better.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. Nostalgia trip for me

I lived there in the middle 1980s.

Most of what the people here have said about it is true, but I'd make a few modifications.

- First, visit the official Chico, CA website.

- The summer heat is almost always dry, and take it from a Philadelphia boy, 105F with low humidity beats 90F with high humidity hands-down.

- Chico people are plenty hip. Go out of town, and it's strictly Freepsville.

- The cost of living was dirt cheap in 1985. I believe it still is.

- Music. While the music scene comes and goes, a lot of excellent music has come out of Chico in every age. I was lucky enough to be there during the heyday of 28th Day, one of those prototypical 80s "college rock" bands.

- The Chico News and Review is one of the very best weekly hipster papers in the country. No contest. It regularly outdoes many big-city weeklies.

- The food. You have to go to SF or LA to eat nearly as well.

- Beauty. It is one of the most physically beautiful towns I have ever seen.

- Family appeal without the fundamentalism. It's a great place to settle down and raise up a bunch o' children. OK, there is a significant Jeebusizing population (15-20%?), but most of them are pretty cool, too.

- It's a major Frat town. That's a negative. On the other hand, they were pretty well-behaved when I was there. Two years after I moved back to Philly, there was a Frat Riot during "Pioneer Days" (kind of like Chico State's "Spring Fling").

- Relatively few insects, especially for a rural town.

- It seldom, if ever, snows. For me, that's a big negative. But Chico does get some magnificent fogs. (I know, I should move to Boston, but I have family in Philly).

- Even the right-wingers are environmentalists in Chico.

Indcidentally, the name "Chico" comes from a trademark of the 19th century China Company, which imported goods from China and the rest of the Orient, as well as huge numbers of Chinese and Japanese laborers. After a riot and several lynchings in the early 20th century in nearby Oroville, most of the Asians packed up and left the area.

Hope you get the job ... it's a great place to live, and with the drought in the West, it will need to have some wilderness firefighters handy!

--bkl