So I have been reading on the brain drain in the central valley. Link: Valley Notebook
It is quite sad just how pronounced it is. In the San Joaquin Valley only 14% of people over 25 have at least a bachelor's degree compared to the rest of the state of California at 28%.
So what does the San Joaquin Valley have to offer, Fresno in particular (since it is the 'big city'):
~~Well, it is in the middle of the state. Four hours to LA, four hours to Sac and San Fran. Two hours to the ocean, two hours to the mountains. In the middle of everything. The problem with this is that you have to go somewhere else to do something. Why should you be in the middle of everything when you can pick one thing that will have most of what you want anyways? With gas at $4.50 a gallon, who is going to drive that far?
~~The housing is the cheapest in the state. This is a positive, especially if you want to own a house. However, who wants to own a house that has nothing of value around it? Do we have lots of culture? No. Do we have major universities? No. Do we have a good public transportation system? No. Is there a thriving job market to support a family on? No. Then what is the point of owning a house, if there is nothing of value around it? It is like having a 3 story mansion, but it is located in the middle of the city dump. Pointless.
~~Lower crime rate? Not exactly. Both Fresno and Kern counties had a similar or higher rate of crime per 100k people than Los Angeles in all categories (2005). Where is the incentive to stay? Why not pick a county like Orange, Santa Clara, or Santa Barbara to raise your kids? They have lower crime rates, more cultural and job opportunities, and major universities nearby.
So how do we keep people here? How do we bring people in? How do we stop the tide of people leaving?
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1 comment:
You know this is a very serious problem the central valley has where there is no easy solution. Case-in-point, both of our careers require us to leave Fresno to get the degree we want because there is simply not a university that offers a Ph.D. in Fresno (with the exception of a few programs through Fresno State), especially not in our fields. This also dramatically decreases the chances either one of us will come back to Fresno after we get our degrees because what can we do with our degrees in Fresno?
Personally I think Fresno is better than people make it out to be. It always amazing to me to realize how large it really is. Downtown is actually quite beautiful and the tower is pretty cool. These areas need some fixing up and there needs to be a push to get people to know what great shops and restaurants are in these areas. As it stands right now, many people-- especially college-age people-- are afraid of downtown.
The crime rate is another huge problem to address that needs to start with education and after school programs; programs to help to the poor; help for the many, many homeless in Fresno; etc. The problem is too big to even begin to attack it here, but something needs to be done.
Some progress is being done. There is the push to get gang members off the streets. Some efforts to restore downtown. Also there is the UCSF-Fresno medical school program that aims to keep good doctors in Fresno. However UMC, that used to serve the under-priviledged in downtown Fresno, got moved to a richer part of town-- instead of trying to fix it...so yeah...there is quite a ways to go.
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