Not the town it used to be
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7/31/2013
I grew up in Turlock and still visit often since all of my extended family still live in the area. Since the other reviews are 4+ years old (a time when Turlock was flying high pre-economy crash) I thought I'd add my observations.
Turlock has gone downhill greatly even in the past few years. The bad economy hit is severely, especially with housing. I remember in 2007 seeing tiny new homes selling for $500k and I knew right away a crash was inevitable. The median income is $49,000 so there is no way home prices like that could be sustained and of course now we can look back as see they couldn't be. As a result there is a very depressed vibe in the town. Lots of men riding bikes not for exercise but for transportation. For the first time I felt unsafe going anywhere south of Raley's in Turlock. I saw people loitering outside of Walgreens (drug deals) and tons of people jay walking (another symptom of reduced police force). The schools are badly-rated and demographically are overwhelmingly comprised of low-income Hispanics. The city has little money to maintain any landscaping so there is trash and weeds everywhere. Some other poster talked about "beautiful Donnely Park" which is ironic since I was just commenting what a shame such a beautiful park is known as being dangerous and crime-ridden. Just a few weeks ago a female jogger was attacked and dragged by her assailant in broad daylight. I feel so bad how much my formerly nice hometown has deteriorated. I would never move back.
Jane | Centennial, CO