After moving away from Redding I'd never live ther
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1/29/2016
I wish when I was thinking about moving to Redding in 2012, I'd read this review I'm about to write. I've lived around the world and internationally and been happy something I was able to do anywhere until I made the mistake of my life and choose to move to Redding CA. I actually moved for a job with the county. There were many things I didn't know about Redding, the dirty underbelly of the monster when I naively bought a house in hell. This is why I don't recommend it particularly for those that do not have family there already
1. WORK -it is hard to find and being isolated as it is, the workplaces can be horrible. The branch of county government I landed in was terribly mismanaged and coworkers were discouraged and desperate about the management but stuck
2. UTILITIES - I had a small house, used utilities conservatively but my utilities bill was more expensive than my mortgage every month
3. HEAT - I was from the North and while 80 degrees in October and April can be nice, over 100 day after day after day for what seems like 6 months makes this outdoor supposedly mecca too hot to be outdoors. For a period of about 3 months the weather was comfortable enough to be outdoors for me, I'd get cabin fever in the summer when I just didn't want to be in a blase furnace outside
4. CRIME RATES - Forbes documents that Redding is the 5th most dangerous city in the US for women. Rapes, assaults, violence. Had I known this when I considered moving there I would have rethought it. I was scared and housebound
5. PEOPLE ARE CLANNISH - It was the hardest place to make friends including places where there was a language barrier. There are 2-3 bible colleges there and a megachurch that many consider a cult. It is divisive in that some think it a cult, others think it the place of the second coming of Christ, its hard to be someone that thinks neither. It does impact Redding and not in a good way.
6. DRUG PROBLEMS SEX OFFENDERS-- I ended up living in a part of Redding that had meth activity and I found out later was in the vicinity of approximately 30 sex offenders.
Sometimes you leave a place and you think, really that wasn't so bad, I miss some parts of it. I don't feel that way about Redding. Almost every day of the 2 years I've been gone I cry with gratitude that I'm not there. In fact, to survive the place I was in denial about how hideous living there was. Now that I'm in a wonderful climate, with actual friendly people, and a low crime rate, cheaper bills and the ocean nearby I'm sad for the years I wasted their. I'm sad at how unsafe it felt, how uncivil people were and how arrogant the Bethelites were. And I'm releieved. If I ever have to drive to California, I'll drive down 101 or go out of my way to not pass through what I believe is the most horrible place in America.
Katie | Lakewood, WA