Chico is no longer a well-kept secret! It's a town
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5/18/2010
Though I am hearing many gripes about the influx of bay area families moving to Chico for the affordable housing and the complaints of college students taking over our town, Chico really has so much to offer that it was only a matter of time before the surrounding areas found out about our lovely town.
Chico is what you would call a micro market as far as the economy goes. Much of our economy thrives because of the college students, meaning many businesses are seasonal (the in-school season). Some may not like that our downtown is crawling with students, but let's face it, our downtown is able to sustain its appealing look and feel because we have the students to help drive our economy.
When the sub-prime mortgage meltdown hit California our surrounding communities in the San Francisco bay area and Sacramento were hit much harder than our little town of Chico. We were able to sustain more of our home values than most other communities making the perks that came with the economic crash (like excellent interest rates and home buying programs) a wonderful plus to an already affordable place to live.
It's no mystery why more and more people are moving to our wonderful town. Although we don't exactly have a small town population (about 83,000 +/-) Chico still feels like a small town because of its attractive downtown, University, pride and small businesses. In addition bordering towns do not enjoy the economic, cultural, and entertainment benefits of a University so more people prefer to live, shop, and recreate in Chico since it is the closest thing to a city until Sacramento (which is about a 1.5 hour drive). We are not so developed as to have a Macy's, but hey, we do now have an In-n-Out Burger. That's pretty handy.
I hear complaints that people wish we had "this", and we're too far from "that", but they don't want people to move here. I say the gifts we have in life are meant for sharing. The secret is out and with more inhabitants come more pros and cons alike. If we are able to grow in population, more brilliant and innovative people will learn here, move here, and grow their businesses here in turn providing more jobs, growing our economy, and helping sustain more amenities for our town's inhabitants. As with any big changes, we all have a voice and can protest, or vote against some changes to keep Chico amazing even while it grows. Chico is what progress looks and feels like and it is something to be proud of.
Aggy | Chico, CA