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best cities to live in California, best cities to move?
Hello everyone! I’m sure a lot of you are wheelchair bound like myself and at the moment I live in wisconsin way out in the country so I can’t go no where and stuck in the house more than half the year. I have no Car with a ramp so I really feel trapped and only get out once in awhile, from friends that take me out sometimes, but that’s about it.
I’m done living like this and moving with a few friends out west, so I’m looking for a city to move to in California in the city, so that I can pretty much roll around anywhere to anyplace I want in a close distance to everything as well. Anyone that lives out west or has any tips on moving out west any help would be greatly appreciated!
http://i.infopls.com/images/states_imgmap.gifRe: best cities to live in California, best cities to move?Hello Drum,
Many of us can fully empathise about the isolation of living in a rural location. I live in a small town with amenities just minutes away, but am still isolated as I can only go when there is someone to accompany me and the weather is behaving.
I really wish we could offer you some experience and advice but a the majority of our board members are in the Uk, we’d need a map to find Wisconsin.
Are there any Facebook Groups that could offer help?
I'm always the animal, my body's the cage
I blog about nothingness www.amgroves.com
Re: best cities to live in California, best cities to move?Hi
Thanks your question. Sorry you are having difficulty, this must be very annoying indeed.
I live what used to be ten minutes outside my small town but now it is a massive obstacle
and buses and taxi’s have to be the answer. Also I find half the town is on hillside and slopes
and is now “out of bounds”.I agree with your decision and suggest you research it very carefully. Make sure you are in the optimum
location for all the things you will need like hospitals, libraries, food shops. Make sure there is flat
ground between them and especially the access in and out of your home for yourself and things like
emergency vehicles. Our American friends at Google now enable us to research in great details
every aspect before you actually move.Make it a good thing, that you are moving to massively improve your life and solve your problems. There
are professionals like Occupational Therapists to help you in this.Good luck!
"Even if you are not paranoid, it does not mean they are not out to get you!".
Re: best cities to live in California, best cities to move?I am a member of a yahoo group specific to my suspected sub-type. Most members live in the US, I will ask them for their thoughts.
A learning experience is one of those things that say, “You know that thing you just did? Don’t do that.” - Douglas Adams
Re: best cities to live in California, best cities to move?Hi, I’ve had some replied from my US forum buds. I have their permission to copy and paste their responses.
Person 1: I’ve lived in California for 34 years and have traveled the state extensively.
California is more than 160,000 square miles – almost double the size of the UK. There are elevations anywhere from sea level to 14,000 feet. Climates from beach to desert to farmland to forest to mountain with daily average highs anywhere from 60 – 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Towns with populations as little as 100 up to urban/suburban sprawls with more than 10 million. There are areas with the distinct cultural flavor of foreign national transplant communities from all over the world to communities completely immersed in “American” culture.
Significant thought about desired environment should be given before making his move: general community type (Rural, suburban, urban?), general proximity to which of the big cities (San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles/Orange County, San Diego?).
For the most part all the urban and suburban areas of California are accessible; it is required by law. You are always going to find some areas not yet upgraded to code, but if you stick to the larger cities, you shouldn’t have any problem. San Francisco proper can be challenging with all the hills, but there is a huge thriving disabled community there as well as all of our large cities. Honestly, if you can define what you want, you will likely find it in California
Cost of living can be quite high in California, primarily centered around housing costs. Budget needs to be given considerable thought when choosing where to live in addition to environmental and cultural interests.Person 2: We live in San Jose – 45 mins south of San Francisco, and LOVE IT. You can go pretty much 30-45 minutes in any direction from where we live – in the Bay Area, and have a different climate and/or area. Ocean one way, camping and mountains another, country and farm lands another with rodeos! It’s great.
We have a lot of great medical access and programs here that help with our daughter’s needs- wouldn’t trade ours for anything….and although cost of living is fairly high – we make do!
Re. access: Most places are great – although I would NOT want to be in San Francisco and live there from my daughter’s chair. Even visiting there is challenging, but we do it. For example – Santa Cruz…popular, pretty coastal town – VERY known for their accessible streets, sidewalks, etc. The city makes that very important. I think most places you goes – you will not have a problem…unless it’s on one of the farms or in the mountains
A learning experience is one of those things that say, “You know that thing you just did? Don’t do that.” - Douglas Adams
Re: best cities to live in California, best cities to move?
awesome job SarahI'm always the animal, my body's the cage
I blog about nothingness www.amgroves.com
Re: best cities to live in California, best cities to move?@sar78 wrote:
Hi, I’ve had some replied from my US forum buds. I have their permission to copy and paste their responses.
Person 1: I’ve lived in California for 34 years and have traveled the state extensively.
California is more than 160,000 square miles – almost double the size of the UK. There are elevations anywhere from sea level to 14,000 feet. Climates from beach to desert to farmland to forest to mountain with daily average highs anywhere from 60 – 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Towns with populations as little as 100 up to urban/suburban sprawls with more than 10 million. There are areas with the distinct cultural flavor of foreign national transplant communities from all over the world to communities completely immersed in “American” culture.
Significant thought about desired environment should be given before making his move: general community type (Rural, suburban, urban?), general proximity to which of the big cities (San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles/Orange County, San Diego?).
For the most part all the urban and suburban areas of California are accessible; it is required by law. You are always going to find some areas not yet upgraded to code, but if you stick to the larger cities, you shouldn’t have any problem. San Francisco proper can be challenging with all the hills, but there is a huge thriving disabled community there as well as all of our large cities. Honestly, if you can define what you want, you will likely find it in California
Cost of living can be quite high in California, primarily centered around housing costs. Budget needs to be given considerable thought when choosing where to live in addition to environmental and cultural interests.Person 2: We live in San Jose – 45 mins south of San Francisco, and LOVE IT. You can go pretty much 30-45 minutes in any direction from where we live – in the Bay Area, and have a different climate and/or area. Ocean one way, camping and mountains another, country and farm lands another with rodeos! It’s great.
We have a lot of great medical access and programs here that help with our daughter’s needs- wouldn’t trade ours for anything….and although cost of living is fairly high – we make do!
Re. access: Most places are great – although I would NOT want to be in San Francisco and live there from my daughter’s chair. Even visiting there is challenging, but we do it. For example – Santa Cruz…popular, pretty coastal town – VERY known for their accessible streets, sidewalks, etc. The city makes that very important. I think most places you goes – you will not have a problem…unless it’s on one of the farms or in the mountains
Just wanted to say thanks so much everyone for the feedback! Sar78, thanks so much for taking the time to hit up your US forum buds for me! I really wish I had friends like that to relate to. I had a really good friend I could relate to, but he passed away a couple years ago ( had duchenne one of the worst disorders) and it hasn’t been the same since, because I have no one that really relates with me. Only people that can relate are the people that have went through it IMO.
Anyhoo, I’m mainly moving because I’m stuck in the house more than half the year and live with my parents again. I used to live on my own before and that was when I was walking, and just when my lease ended, I also stopped walking so I pretty much put up the white flag and moved back with the parents. I want to move somewhere urban, because I’m also moving because the music scene here barely has a pulse in my genre of music and I’m a music producer / DJ and been living in wisconsin all my life and nothings changed, so it’s definitely time to change and move Time is TICKING!
I would like to move somewhere URBAN, by the way and from your friends suggestions it looks like LA, San Jose, or Santa Cruz might be the place to look into! Sar78, any other tips you can get from your friends would be appreciated if you can and give them a big ole thank you from me as well!
Re: best cities to live in California, best cities to move?Hi, glad I got some responses
One of them has kindly said I can pass on her email address if you have any further questions. She was person 1 above. I will send you a private message with the address.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.
A learning experience is one of those things that say, “You know that thing you just did? Don’t do that.” - Douglas Adams
Re: best cities to live in California, best cities to move?@sar78 wrote:
Hi, glad I got some responses
One of them has kindly said I can pass on her email address if you have any further questions. She was person 1 above. I dull send you a private message with the address.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Much appreciated sar78!
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