Cardiff-by-the-Sea
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8/7/2008
NOT TRUE. Your statistics about Cardiff are for the most part simply not true. I have lived here for years and in the last 18 months (this is written in August 2008), changes have been staggering. This is not a community anymore, it is a LA yuppie investment portfolio. The beach homes are being bought up, torn down and monstrous "twin homes" are being erected. V. ugly. There is no longer a sense of neighborhood. It is an enclave for those seeking tax shelters and for offshore monies. Crime is up, there are no jobs here, it is strictly a former haven for stoners and surfers and is now a haven for overpriced really disgusting rundown small apartment buildings that surfers or others rent for a week or a month at a time, OR monstrous Trophy Homes. The area is rude, there is constant construction noise and in the last five or so months, the most hazardous lots are being built up with ridiculous "spec" homes with fabulous views of - not the ocean, but THE FREEWAY! OR THE WATER TREATMENT PLANT AND ITS ETERNAL FLAME!
Pollution in the air and waterways is outrageous. This is one of those many many west coast places that WAS wonderful but now has gang graffiti regularly sprayed on the local buildings, an alarming increase in small business smash and grabs, home prowls, car and gas thefts and scam artists going door to door "selling" dubious products.
People who live here do not work here. Do not be taken in by the idyllic lure of real estate people, vacations, or Jimmy Buffett. If you were here 20 years ago and bought, good for you. If you are planning to relocate here, check up on local planning issues, on the toilet to tap water situation and on the two gigantic fires that have swept this county in the last four years, burning out thousands of people. Well, that wasn't in Cardiff, I hear you say. News for you: Cardiff sits on one side of a fire path that was sweeping from east TO THE OCEAN from the Rancho Santa Fe area. Moving FAST. Solana Beach is literally the community next door- and it was in evacuation stage. The air at our Cardiff home and indeed, in the entire area, was unbelievably toxic for many weeks after the fires subsided. Be careful and make sure you really know about any area before you buy any pie in the sky hopes of how it will be. It's one thing to vacation here and quite another to put up with the "quality" of life that has become so unbearable. Too many tacky suburbs, too many cars, too many people, too much carelessness.
Kathy | Encinitas, CA