Well, I moved to Modesto from Fremont, and heres what I have noticed…

What’s Good in Modesto:

For one, its slower-paced at all the right times, but has nice big-city amenities such as a vibrant downtown area with clubs, coffeehouses, lots of locally owned shops, and a movie theatre. Traffic can be heavy on surface streets, but traffic is usually light on the 99. The people in this area are much more courteous, you can tell just by how they drive. The infrastructure is excellent (Freeway is in the works north of pelandale to connect East Modesto)...most of the city to the west of McHenry Ave and south of Scenic Dr. has a great mix of shops, houses, and schools UNLIKE the Sprawl plagued areas of the bay, LA, etc… and crime is low in the middle class areas. (Do note that crime rates are statistically lower in the bay Area, but if you know the locals there, you know thats just due to the fact that burglaries, theft, robbery, gang activity, etc… is rarely reported due to lazy police dept.’s). Most of my friends thought I was crazy to leave Fremont to live in Modesto since its so far from the Bay Area, but I can afford a home here, im just over one hour from the beach, one hour from the Sierra Nevada, 4 hrs from the LA area, and best of all, there ARE Jobs, so it is possible to live and work here. If your visiting, I have to be honest. Theres no huge bridges, tall buildings, beaches, etc…. so I cant see Modesto as a worthwhile tourist destination. I do however think this is a good place to live, because anyone who lives outside California looking to move here should know that landmarks dont mean sh*t if you live next to them long enough.

Whats BAD:

West of 99 generally. This covers 85% of the places in the “Redevelopment Area.” Rising property values have cleaned up most areas in west Modesto north of maze blvd., but severe poverty still plagues areas along Paradise road. This is another investor- heavy area that is seeing some turnaround. However, South Modesto is not a place I would advise you not to live in, but I would dare you to. I doubt there is any area of Mexico that looks as blight-stricken as Crowes Landing Road. South Modesto is not incorporated. One drive through this area lets you know that sidewalks are a luxury, city sewer lines are non-existant, and storm water turns the “no-foundation” homes into ghetto-shack forts with moats around them. (I saw a prosthetic leg floating in one of these moats, and the woman across the street had barbie-doll heads with chopped- hair dangling on strings that were hooked to her Christmas Lights that straddled her grass-roof…..in FEBRUARY. (I think this was some kind of VooDoo to wart off all the Tweekers…. and by the way it wasnt working too well…).There are some moat- free new homes, but you now know why they are 100-200k cheaper than other homes in incorporated East Modesto.