+100!
Why do people need to be judgmental and racist and put labels on people and places? That's BS in my book. The people claiming to have a problem with Folsom ARE the problem themselves. It sounds to me like they are too judgmental and racist to get anywhere in life - always too busy blame shifting. It's everyone else's fault but their own for where they are in life. Give me a break. I'm happy to live with all types, all classes, all races and I think it's good for Folsom to have all classes/wealth/races represented to keep a good balance. I don't want to live in a rich whitey only town, I think EDH sucks entirely because of the snooty holier then thou attitude from the people there, they can stuff that attitude, life is way too short to put up with that. We are all equal - period, end of story.
What a great discussion!
When I decided to move to the Sac area, I had several friends and family members recommending Elk Grove and Natomas, and just one recommending Folsom. I'd been visiting my brother-in-law here for about 10 years or so before deciding to make the move, so I was somewhat familiar with the community.
One of my concerns was the racial acceptance issue. I remember driving up East Natoma from Folsom Blvd, there was house that displayed the confederate flag. Not exactly a 'welcome' sign. Someone I know close to Folsom PD told me that they would get what they jokingly called 'NIF' (n_______ in Folsom) calls, because the literally would get calls saying 'I just saw a black person driving down Riley'. One friend who had lived here but moved said, 'man, they don't want you there'.
I was told by my brother in law that this old attitude was dying out, and after doing a lot of research on the 3 communities. I chose Folsom. It is clean, safe, has great schools, lots of opportunities for outdoor exercise and recreation, the Historic District, and people take care of their properties.
In comparison, Elk Grove and Natomas, though they had new developments, already had crime issues, and driving through the neighborhoods I saw grafitti on street signs (on brand new streets), groups of boys walking down the street in their red gear, and then I got hit up for change when I pulled into the gas station. All of this can happen anywhere, including Folsom, but I played the odds.
I did get grief from some people I knew for moving to a Folsom, with people telling me the people were 'stuck up' and one said that I wanted to be 'with the white people'.
My daughters did get called names because of their racial make-up, and I did have a couple of run-ins with people who I believed treated me differently because of race, but those have been rare. I also dealt with similar issues growing up in San Francisco.
Of the most vocal critics of my move to Folsom, one, who had been living in Elk Grove for a couple of years, ended up with her 2 sons involved in gangs and both ended up in jail, and one from Natomas has had his cars broken into in their driveway by people who actually had to open a metal gate to get to them.
I've grown to love this town and the people in it and am happy to have raised my kids here. I highly recommend it, no matter what your race is.
We didn't move here to move up any "social economic ladder" (socioeconomic?). We found a house we could afford, it was a safe community, had good schools, good parks, and there used to be very little traffic within town and was very walkable (still is for us). I do, however, qualify my response to "Where do you live?" with "I moved to Folsom before it boomed and live in the older section of town" because you get that look. My kids have mentioned it too. When they say where they grew up people automatically assume their parents are well off.
I've run into the people that say Folsom has a reputation for being snooty. I think it's an uninformed opinion being misplaced on a majority of the residents, but there are also those that live up to the reputation with their attitudes that because they paid more for their house it automatically gives them class.
Having said that, the good people more than make up for the bad and this is still an excellent place to live. It's getting more expensive to live here, but we haven't found anyplace else we'd rather be.
In talking to old timers here, and with folks who grew up in the area years ago, I'm told that Folsom used to have the opposite reputation, that it was a hick town where you stopped for gas and a bite to eat on the way to the lake, or where bikers went to hang out at the bars on Sutter.
I often remind people that many if not most of us living here in Folsom could not afford to buy in the Bay Area, and we'd qualify for low-income housing there.
I have a house on the market in Belmont, on the SF Peninsula right now. It is a 3 bed 1 bath 1300 sq ft house built in 1963. It needs updating and is across the street from a garage and a paint store, and just steps from an industrial and commute corridor. We just got an offer at $675,000, and the sellers want $715,000.
Need something bigger? Something updated?
There's a 4/2 fixer in the same neighborhood on the market for $730,000, and a fully updated 3/1 of 1010 sq feet for $775,000.
If you want bigger AND updated, figure on spending $850,000 to live there, or half that for Folsom, and you get a much better quality of life.