10 Things You Should Know Before Moving To Santa Clarita
Santa Clarita is a wonderful place to live, and this list of “10 Things” certainly does not define this city. Because of Santa Clarita’s location, independence, and diversity, there could easily be dozens of lists of “10 Things…”.
1) Santa Clarita is not Los Angeles –
Santa Clarita is an independent city located 35 miles north of downtown Los Angeles. Incorporated in 1987, it’s the fourth largest city in Los Angeles County. We enjoy our own secluded community, but we are close to L.A. for much more shopping, entertainment, dining, etc.
2) Family oriented –
There are a TON of things to do in Santa Clarita for children and their families which include over 60 miles of walking paseos, beautiful parks, recreation, and activities. Go-karts, martial arts, ice hockey, swimming, gymnastics, and much more are available to kids. The City of Santa Clarita’s Skatepark and Aquatic Center attracts visitors from far outside the city.
3) Freeway traffic –
Traffic is a reality anywhere in Southern California. Santa Clarita is bordered on the west by Interstate 5 and to the south and east by State Highway 14. Getting in and out of the Santa Clarita Valley can test one’s patience when traffic levels are high. Interstate 5 carries many commuters and commercial traffic down to Los Angeles and up to Northern California. Highway 14 suffers from the typical rush hour traffic as commuters from Palmdale and Lancaster travel into Los Angeles for work each day.
4) Weather –
Santa Clarita is located within a valley along the foothills of the Angeles National Forest. While Spring a Fall are mild, summers can get hot – reaching over 100 degrees, and winter can get cold – falling below the freezing level. On a rare occasion, it can snow.
5) Safety –
Santa Clarita consistently ranks as one of the safest cities in America to live. The Los Angeles County Sheriff patrols the Santa Clarita Valley, and neighbors all keep an eye out for one another.
6) Great schools –
Bottom line, the public schools in Santa Clarita are excellent. There are two elementary school districts (Newhall School District and Saugus Union School District) and one high school district (William S. Hart Union School District). The quality education that is offered adds to the appeal of this great city and the families that live here.
7) Beautiful natural scenery –
Santa Clarita is a suburb, but it is surrounded by mountains, National Forests, and nature. This mix of open space with thoughtful development has provided a city with beautiful natural scenery everywhere. Canyons, creeks, mountain vistas, lakes, and city lights at night make living in Santa Clarita refreshing.
8 ) Ethnically diverse –
Being in the middle of suburbia, people have the misconception that Santa Clarita has no ethnic diversity. This couldn’t be further from the truth. More and more people are relocating to Santa Clarita from parts of Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley as well as from out-of-state. Most of these people are attracted to Santa Clarita because of many features on this list.
9) Air quality –
We had originally made an error regarding this air quality paragraph. We made the claim that Santa Clarita had good air quality. We had no intention of being dishonest, but we had made that claim based upon our experiences in the Santa Clarita Valley and our dealings with many people who live here.
As one of our residents (and former doctor) has brought to our attention, the air quality in Santa Clarita can at times be quite lacking. We have decided to maintain the integrity of this blog post and the comments of our readers. More information about the air quality can be found in the comments following this post. Thank you.
It can get very windy in Santa Clarita, especially when the Santa Ana winds pick up. Because the City sits along the foothills of the Angeles National Forest, the winds tend to blow through here with some gusto. However, contrary to common opinion, this air quality is NOT very good during these times. This is because the smog, dust, pollen, etc become stirred-up in the air creating a worse air quality environment.
10) Much more than Magic Mountain –
When people ask where Santa Clarita is located, they usually respond “oh, Magic Mountain”. Yes, we have that too, but this community has a voice, is fiscally responsible, and has a responsive local government. It is anything but a theme park!
Do you have different features about Santa Clarita that should make this list? Please feel free to comment about it below.
If we can be of any assistance to you in buying or selling your home throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, please contact us.
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Dear Mr. Darryl Izakowitz
Truth and transparency on websites and blogs are the new trend. Try it. Santa Clarita has clean air? Unfortunately I live in Santa Clarita because my husband had to transfer for work. Love the people, pretty place. But the air pollution is among the worst in the nation.
Here are the facts:
Everyone knows the Los Angeles pollution score is ranked as the worst in the nation. 2010. No big surprise. If you look at the county and divide into all the cities that make up Los Angeles, it includes Santa Clarita. And it is SANTA CLARITA that is the main driver for the Los Angeles score to be so high in pollution. We are one of the two cities in LA that has the worst air pollution. Just check the EPA website. Santa Clarita even documents it. This whole summer we have been above the maximum threshold in air pollution. ABOVE the MAXIMUM threshold. For example: the average US city has an ozone pollution ranking at 50. The EPA says the maximum threshold level is 70. Anything above 70 can cause serious health risks. Santa Clarita’s average daily number is 87. Helllllooooo. What part of that reads “healthy air”. What am I missing? Pollution is a silent killer. It causes inflammation throughout the whole body – you may not always feel it, but it’s there. It will eventually rob you of your quality of life.
I am a retired doctor, but still witness the ramifications of the air quality in Santa Clarita in people I meet everyday. Are you a responsible human being? Do you do fact checks or do you just shoot from the hip? Or do you k now that truth — and actually lie about it?
As a physician and fellow SCV resident, I ask you to please take this statement: “Come to Santa Clarita because of the clean air” off your website, blogs, tweets, etc. If anyone takes your words seriously, a person with any lung disease (like a small child with asthma) can suffer because you talked their mom and dad to come move to Santa Clarita. You are telling that mom and dad to bring their kid with asthma to live in a place that research shows causes as much damage to the body as 1-2 packs cigarettes a day. Of course parents are responsible for checking the facts as well, but some may not even know it’s an important thing to do.
I will make sure I tell everyone I know who wants to sell or buy a house to NOT go to you . I know a lot of people here. You want ethics and honesty in the person who is helping you buy or sell a home. You my friend, do not fit in that category. I am sure you will cover up all other issues for home owners, like previous flood issues, mold growth, etc. I have never responded to anyone’s blog or tweet before, but I was so taken back by your dishonesty, I had to reply.
BTW: Here is where your truth gets twisted:
Darryl Izakowitz : However, the air quality is very good year-round (NOT TRUE), and the wind helps to keep things fresh (Dr S comment: no, actually it’s the winds that keeps the air at an abnormally high concentration of pollutants.)
Why? Southern California has very different wind patterns because of all the diversity of the mountain ranges. Santa Clarita is situated between two mountain ranges (among a long line of mountain ranges coming from other cities). While it is beautiful to be in the mountains (when you can see them), it causes a problem. You know those winds that keep things ‘fresh? Well, they bring in pollution from different cities via their mountain ranges and it unloads right into Santa Clarita Valley where it gets stuck. Why does it get stuck in Santa Clarita and not other cities with mountain ranges? It’s because of the way Santa Clarita is situated between two mountain ranges and the diversity of air flow throughout Southern California– it blocks it in. To make it worse, the air patterns are so varied Santa Clarita gets air pollution from more than one place. In other cities, the air pollution has a place to escape – into the air of other cities and eventually the ocean. Not Santa Clarita. It comes in from other cities but doesn’t get to escape. It gets locked in.
Darryl Izakowitz : We are also higher in elevation over the Los Angeles basin, and that keeps us above the marine layer and fog. This means lots of clear and sunny mornings.
Okay, you are getting ridiculous now. The highest concentration of pollutants resides ABOVE the marine layer. Ozone pollution concentration peaks on those ‘clear and sunny mornings’ in Santa Clarita – the highest in the nation. Santa Clarita council has advised people not to run in Santa Clarita in the morning due to the fact the ozone pollution peaks during this time period (during summer – it’s dangerous to exercise outside 24/7).
If you don’t get this nonsense off I will report you to the BBB, FTC, EPA, etc. A lot of cities get in a lot of trouble when they falsify their air ratings. Santa Clarita’s official website doesn’t brag about clean air. They know better. You are a small business owner in SCV – you need to take responsibility for accurate information.
There is no need to take this reply and post it. My intentions are to ask you to take down this irresponsible blog of yours. As a physician and an ethical human being, I can not allow this to go by in fear of someone actually believing it and acting upon it because they believe it – and suffer as a consequence. People have free will, but it is unethical to knowingly bring them in under false pretenses. I am not saying you have to say we have dirty air. I am just saying remove the part that we have clean air. I am sure it doesn’t seem that big of a deal to you. You have NO idea of the repercussions you could instill in the universe by perpetuating a lie that could really hurt the life of another human being.
Remove it. Your reputation has already suffered due to the fact I am well known in this town and your blog has been sent to a lot of physicians who work with all the SCV patients who suffer due to SCV highly polluted air. Asthma. Wheezing. Colds. Decreaed Immunity. And it ends up in heart disease. All due to air pollution and highly exacerbated by air pollution. Do you know SCV children have the highest rate of asthma in the state? Stop by Valencia Pediatrics and have a chat with them about the ‘clean air’ of SCV.
Hi Janice. Are you just trolling for an argument, or are you genuinely insane? Nothing in your rambling 12 paragraph rant makes a lick of sense. You say you’re a physician, yet you quote “stats” by saying “everybody knows” which may, in fact, be the least scientific method ever. If you were to actually deal in facts, you would know that Kern, Fresno, Riverside and San Bernardino counties are all frequently considerably worse for air quality than Los Angeles. But then you wouldn’t know from facts, would you? You like to shoot from the hip yourself.
I’m not claiming that we’re living in the Catskills here – although you’re sure acting like your parents were related – but the air here is still much better than other places. I relocated here for work as well and my breathing has actually gotten better. But that would be another fact, which I’m sure intimidates you.
If you really have nothing better to do than go on a rampage about the air quality here in the SCV, why don’t you start your own freaking blog about it rather than assault a random realtor who posted about some of the ups & downs of this area? Or better yet, if you’re all choked up about the particulate matter here, why don’t you go try to do something about lowering it? That would be doing something useful, though, which might pull you out of the glass house that you’ve been throwing stones out of…
Ugh – nothing to see here… just feeding the trolls…
Hi Janice:
10 Things You Can Do to Deal With Santa Clarita’s Pollution
1. Move
Oh look, it only took 1.
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Dear SCV Defender and lackey,
Janice does provide measurable facts from respected government agencies. She does not merely stop at the unfortunate “everybody knows” statement. Obviously, judging from your responses, everyone does not know. But they should.
The ozone pollution issue has been written about in Santa Clarita city documents, The Signal and the Los Angeles Daily News.
Personally, I find it more than a little humorous that you attempt to shoot down her facts – citing actually quantifiable scientific research – using the personal anecdote: “My breathing has gotten better since I moved here.”
Her post wasn’t a troll; yours, rife with immature name-calling, was. It was a reasoned and well-sourced argument that expressed righteous outrage. As someone in the know about the Santa Clarita Valley’s air quality problems, I can definitely understand that frustration.
Since you clearly would rather insinuate that Janice – a physician who completed more school and helped more people than you ever will – is inbred than actually find facts yourself, then here’s a list of links:
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/AIR+DIRTY+IN+'CLEAN'+SUBURB+INVISIBLE+SMOG+INGREDIENT,+OZONE,…-a0108074840
http://www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=airnow.local_city&cityid=409
We’re actually at a low point right now for ozone – we’re only in the high-moderate range. But typically, as Janice said, we are quite a bit higher.
The above is called research. You can learn how to do that at universities, like the ones Janice and I attended.
As for “SCV Defender Fan,” you’re obviously really intelligent. I’d bet that you aren’t a fan of the democratically elected President of the United States. Why don’t you move, too?
At best, the realtor’s post was misinformed or poorly researched. At worst, it was a calculated lie. Either way, it doesn’t look good and warrants a correction on your main blog post.
As for SCV Defender and his even less intelligent cohort, please feel free to call me an inbred or a moron or a troll or a homosexual or anything else you can conjure up that you think would get a rise out of me. I’m looking forward to the laugh.
Hi Janice Fan:
Ummmm…no…not worth it. Try growing a sense of humor..even just a little one. It’s a Realtor’s blog, not a political forum, cheesh! Excuse me whilst I get back to my own evil plot to lure innocent asthmatic dupes to their untimely er, um, difficult breathing. Let’s just hope (and pray of course) that they don’t fall victim to our diabolical scheme to overrun the planet with large chain restaurants.
Peace Brother, seems like you could use some.
I have unintentionally struck a chord with Janice, whom I have never met nor spoke to before.
Let me just state that I am a real estate broker, a business owner, and a Realtor. I am quite aware of any and all ramifications of what I speak, write, and print about. I am bound to strict ethics and codes of conduct under the California Department of Real Estate, and I am a member of the National Association of Realtors, the California Association of Realtors, and our local Association of Realtors. We live in a highly litigious society, and because of this, I am forced to carry ridiculous amounts of insurance on my business and on my real estate agents.
However, I am also aware of my privilege of having Freedom of Speech. My blog and blog posts usually share only my opinion. They are licensed as my intellectual property. And they are copyrighted under my business, RedBrick Properties, Inc.
I’m sorry, but dishonesty is when somebody knows the truth but decides to lie about it anyway. That was never my intention. All I wanted to do was to share a little bit about this gorgeous place that we all call home…”
I would say that you are better off removing the air quality comment since you don’t state that it is your opinion. The first point presents facts therefore one would think the rest might be factual as well and not your own opinion. It might be a good idea to actually state that the air quality is like based on numbers you can obtain online.
Reporting you is overboard – but reading this does seem like you are trying to sell SCV as something that it’s not.
Daniela,
Thank you for your comments. I have decided that I will delete the “clean air” opinion and replace it with another opinion.
“Reporting you is overboard – but reading this does seem like you are trying to sell SCV as something that it’s not.”
I don’t believe that I am trying to “sell” Santa Clarita for something that it is not. I brought up good and bad points in my post about the community. I am grateful however that you took the time to read my blog and leave your comment and advice for me. Thank you.
Darryl!
Wish you all the best! Santa Clarita is great and we love living here as well.
Daniela