Posted on 01/22/2006 9:26:00 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Jim Saitman said goodbye and good riddance to the Inland Empire last September and hasn't looked back.
An exterminator and termite inspector, he moved his family from Fontana to Buckeye, Ariz. -- population 20,000, just 35 miles west of Phoenix.
"I hate California," said Saitman, 37, reciting a list of reasons ranging from high taxes to illegal immigration to what he termed oppressive regulations on the pest-control industry.
"I (was) killing myself to provide for my family," he said. "I'll never go back."
Saitman grew up in Monrovia, and in 1994 he and his wife, Cheryl, bought their Fontana house for $99,000. Their desire for a better school system for their 8-year-old twins, a boy and a girl, and their 4-year-old son fueled their decision to leave.
The Saitmans grew increasingly frustrated with the Fontana Unified School District. The majority of students at their twins' school spoke Spanish and classes were conducted with translators. Even though his wife is Mexican and his mother-in-law emmigrated from Mexico, bilingual classes aren't what they wanted for their children.
His twin son came home from kindergarten one day with a note threatening the family. "Bring $50 to school tomorrow or you'll never see your parents alive again," Saitman recalled. He said school officials later determined the note was written by a classmate's 14-year-old brother. School officials said that they couldn't comment on student/parent issues.
In second grade, Saitman's twin daughter often had her lunch stolen by other children, he said. She often asked him: "Can you come sit with us at lunch, so we can eat?" Saitman recalled.
Two blocks south of their "quiet little street," the neighborhood soured, he said. "We were having gang-bangers coming up and down our street," Saitman said. They sold their house -- 55 years old, with only three bedrooms and 1,248 square feet -- for $365,000. That sum went far in Buckeye. "We bought a 3,000-square-foot house, almost for cash, on an oversized lot," Saitman said.
"My mortgage is $650 (per month), and I plan on paying it off in two or three years," he said. "Gas is 40 cents a gallon cheaper out here. Food is 10 to 20 percent cheaper. Electric is almost half out here," Saitman said.
"My last electric bill when I left California was $483, and I only had a 1,200-square-foot house. It was just a choice of: Do we eat or do we sit and sweat?" he said.
While Buckeye's water rates are higher, Saitman said there's an Arizona mindset about not wasting it that keeps his usage and bill reasonable.
His children love their new school and hometown. "We basically live out in the country. Our development is new and it's rural all around us," said Saitman, who has started a pest-control company in Arizona.
His lingering ties to the Inland Empire are his partnerships in pest-control companies in Moreno Valley and San Bernardino. Also, Cheryl's parents live in San Bernardino. "But it's getting so bad that they're coming out here to look at houses," Saitman said.
Meanwhile, Buckeye won't be rural much longer. The town Web site, using information provided by the Chamber of Commerce, states that the population is expected to explode, reaching 100,000 by 2010.
Races in Buckeye:
White Non-Hispanic (57.3%)
Hispanic (36.7%)
Other race (19.3%)
Black (3.4%)
American Indian (2.6%)
Two or more races (2.5%)
D'oh
Your point in posting that?
Thanks!
...
Meanwhile, Buckeye won't be rural much longer. The town Web site, using information provided by the Chamber of Commerce, states that the population is expected to explode, reaching 100,000 by 2010.
You have only to wait, turkey. Every one of California's problems will follow you to Arizona. Then where will you run?
These weenies who flee rather than fight really gall me. By running, they concede an unbreakable and enormously valuable power base to the Slave Party, not recognizing that the infection will merely follow them. As if the election of Napolitano wasn't enough of an indication of what's in store for Arizona.
Didn't the headline mention taxes? Is it just me not able to read that part?
That was why I am hoping for an expansion on the posting.
Obviously Arizona can as easily make claim to a diverse population,including illegals.
Maybe the implication is that what california suffers today isn't that far down the road in AZ so moving is just an futile attempt to seek greener grass elsewhere only to eventually see it brown out there as well.
I was curious because taxes in my area are outrageous.
Marxists have learned very well how to disguise themselves as "soccer moms in tennis shoes who care about our schools and people like me", so when candidates like that start running for office in Arizona and suburban female voters eat it up, California-style problems will indeed follow. Unless the voting base wises up. The election of Napolitano was not a hopeful sign for Arizona.
I understand the sentiment, my family having lived in California for five generations. As to solutions, I've offered more than my share. The real problem is that conservatives don't understand how freedom works to solve social problems well enough to sell the idea to the ignorant. I'm working on that now.
Buckeye is in Maricopa county. Maricopa's taxes are lower because of unequal distrubution of tax revenues. The rest of the state gets porked for Maricopa.
maricopa is also the most heavily populated, correct?
What part of AZ do you hail from?
Last week I was at my local community college...just doing some research on a possible career change. I saw a poster about Elementary school teachers. I asked the counselor what I would have to do to become a teacher. She asked me if I had a BA...I said yes. She said send your transcripts to the State Board and they'll hire you. I was incredulous..I asked if there's something I actually have to know about teaching elementary kids. She said, NOPE. She said they're taking people off busses for emergency teachers because they don't have enough. this is Arizona. She said the pay is so low, nobody wants to do it. I am still spinning from this conversation.
Habla Espanol ?
Buckeye Elementary School 2004 data from greatschools.net:
Ethnicity This School vs. State Average
Hispanic or Latino 55% 39%
White (not Hispanic) 37% 47%
Black or African-American (not Hispanic) 5% 6%
American Indian or Alaskan Native 2% 6%
Asian or Pacific Islander <1% 2%
Correct. I'm from the second most populated area. The smaller the county (pop wise) the less of every tax dollar comes back to that county.
WOW! I did take a semester of Spanish because if you live in the Southwest, it doesn't hurt to know it. We've all accepted that. I plan on continuing via internet this semester.
WOW! I did take a semester of Spanish because if you live in the Southwest, it doesn't hurt to know it. We've all accepted that. I plan on continuing via internet this semester.
"Where I come from diversity means you have to lock your bike up." - Fred Reed
Arizona's schools rank at the very bottom in terms of national testing standards. Even worse than California.
If I'm not mistaken, they were 49th last year.
Funny, New Mexico was near the bottom, too. Must be something about the Southwest.
Things, of course, weren't always like that. At least before the invasion, anyway.
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