A new family dollar store has opened up in Salton city near what I call the downtown district.  It's not really considered a dollar store in the traditional sense since many items there sell for well over a dollar.  It is however, a store that was desperately needed in the area.  The store is doing very well and I hope that other commercial establishments will follow.  Salton city with a population of about 3800 does seem to have a good consumer base for places like this although I'd like to know how many people from Salton city actually shop there and since the store is visible from Highway 86, how many are transient shoppers.  Salton city has an ARCO Am Pm gas station complete with a truck stop and is reportedly one of the largest such facility of its kind in California.  I consider this another important asset to the community and many times find the gas cheaper there then in National City.

 Salton city has two public schools, Sea view elementary and West Shores high school.  They are administered by the Coachella Valley Unified school district.  Actual academics and test scores are currently unknown.  I will attempt to research this in the future.  I hear from locals that the elementary school is a new construction school completed in 2007.  Here are photos of the schools:

Salton city has a community park with a playground and pool.  It also has a covered picnic area and a basketball court.  Public restrooms are available as well open air picnicking and barbeque facilities.

 The above picture is the entrance to the park from the parking lot towards the restrooms, pool and covered picnic area.

 The covered picnic area which faces the pool.  I've seen a couple of parties thrown here from locals.

                                                This is a view of the swimming pool.

                                                The playground which sits near the pool.

                                      The basketball court as seen from the playground area.
                                     

                           An outdoor picnic area with pool and covered picnic area in the distance

 

Salton city has some spectacular sunrises as seen above.  I can't help when I'm there to wake up early just to see it.  The photos above were taken about 20 minutes apart from my driveway starting at about 5:30 am.  The sounds of birds and other critters can be heard at this time.

 

 

 



This is a photo taken a little later that same morning looking north on the street where my home is located.  The sky was mostly clear and it wasn't hot for a late May (Memorial day) morning.  As you can see, there are no direct neighbors but I know all of them within the radius of my home.

 This  is the view I get from my backyard  patio in the morning when I desire to have breakfast there.  The hills you see in the background are the Santa Rosa mountains.  If you travel north beyond those hills you end up in the Coachella Valley  where Palm Springs CA is located.  I have never run into any kind of road congestion driving to the Coachella Valley even on weekdays.  As far as I know there is no period considered rush hour traffic.

From Salton City the main drag to the Coachella valley is California highway 86.  It's a two lane per side divided highway also known as the NAFTA highway.  It can take anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes from Salton city to the Coachella valley depending on speed and truck traffic.  A lot of trucks do take this highway!

 

This is an evening shot taken from the roof of my home with the Salton Sea in the background.  The home beyond the roof in the foreground was never completed and appears to have been abandoned by the builders before a driveway was placed.  The interior was dry walled but no kitchen cabinets or plumbing fixtures were ever installed.  Some of my neighbors who lived here through the construction boom told me that interest in purchasing new homes in the area began to fall off sharply in late 2007.  Those involved in constructing new homes began to see that and started abandoning projects all over town as can be seen in the following photos:

Many neighborhoods were constructed and after the variable rate loans began to adjust upward, many of the homes that were bought new began to be foreclosed upon creating a double whammy for the local housing market.  I've heard that this possibly helped in more ways then one because some bad elements started forming in Salton city between 2004 and 2009.  Since the foreclosures occurred they were booted out and people like myself began to buy homes there at heavily discounted bank REO prices.  My realtor told me that as more people who enjoy the area buy homes, there was a good chance the neighborhood would turn for the better, which as far as I know  appears to be happening.

my views

Mention Salton city to most people, and discussions of a dead town by a dirty sea in the desert conjure up. Ever since I got my drivers license at 18, I have been venturing to this place.  I am now 53 (As of this writing). I find it fascinating and beautiful.  So much so that in 2009, I bought a house there. I now see the area from a different perspective being a homeowner.  I currently live in National city ca and use my home in Salton city strictly as a getaway.  Hopefully I'll be able to retire there someday.

I continuously hear people outside of the area badmouthing the area and how dirty and polluted it is.  I know from experience now how wrong they are.  These people, when I tell them where I bought my home, think I was crazy because they live outside of the area and base their ideology on probably old information.  In their minds the place should be avoided at all costs.  "Good" I tell them because I don't mind people who think this way because I consider it my secret beautiful place.   If those who read or watch other people's opinions on the area believe such nonsense, I encourage you to please stay away and let those who love and care about the area enjoy it. In the winter months, thousands of off roaders choose the western edge of Salton city as their destination and I doubt pollution is on their minds. When I ask some of these off road enthusiasts why they come here the answer is pretty much the same.  It's the best place, convenient services and friendly people were the overwhelming responses.  The best thing a reader of this blog can do is visit the area themselves and decide for themselves  if the area is worth it or should be avoided.

Almost all accounts on the creation of the Salton sea state that the sea was created by accident due primarily to some type of flood.  This is partially true.  The California Development Company which went bankrupt after the creation of the Salton sea which their chief engineer caused was the responsible party.  Imperial Irrigation district was formed after the bankruptcy.  The story goes something like this:
The California Development Company built canals to turn the Imperial valley into a farmers paradise by providing water to feed the crops, however much silt present in the Colorado river would occasionally block these canals.  Many farm fields would go dry and they turned to the California Development Company for help.  Farmers and the company begged their chief engineer to create a new cut in the Colorado river to feed the farms.  When the chief engineer went to the area (in Mexico) to see the proposed cut area, he did not agree for it was dangerous.  But farmers and the management persuaded him.  Against his better judgement, he made the cut to let the water gravity feed into the Salton sink.  This cut was made without the use of floodgates and since the cut was made on a sandbank,  the cut got wider and wider through erosion until the entire flow of the Colorado river was diverted into the present day location of the Salton sea.  It took nearly two years to close the breach and the result was a shallow sea some 35 miles long by about 20 miles wide and today is known as the Salton Sea and led the the above mentioned bankruptcy from lawsuits.  This is my understanding of Salton sea history based on research.


Many new homes were built in Salton City from around 2004 to 2009.  Most have gone through foreclosure by now.  Some were never bought and went straight to their lenders.  The one I bought for example was built in 2005 and reportedly the asking price was $275,000.  I bought it for $43,000. I figured that the housing prices were about as low as they were ever going to get.  However, I did not purchase my home at the bottom of the pricing.  Housing prices in the area continued their downward spiral for about another ten months.  I know this because a house similar to my model sold about six months after my purchase for about $26,000!  Here in the U.S. you can maybe buy a mobile or modular home for $26,000 but that does not include the land.  Mine did and so did the the one that sold for $26,000.  Most homes in the Salton City area do. The home prices eventually stabilized and are now slowly creeping upwards. Although I feel bad for all those families who lost everything in the great recession, I was able to use it to my advantage and was able to afford to buy in the area I so love.

The interesting thing about Salton city are its people or at least those whom I know.  To date I have not met a single mean or violent person.  In fact I know all my neighbors there, where to the contrary in National City only one neighbor is known and that is an iffy.

My kids have bicycles and mini bikes and my oldest child uses a gas powered buggy.  Many times they were left outside unattended for long periods of time and they are never stolen.  This neighborhood is extremely safe.  My kids can go to a neighbors house unattended half a block away day or night with safety.  We fear snakes and coyotes more then people.  My kids love it here even in the hot summer months because summer means pool time at the uncrowded community pool. 

Salton city also is not powered by an investor owned utility and electricity is still relatively cheap.  Less then half the cost in San Diego under San Diego Gas & Electric, hence the potential retirement home.  If you, like me, lost a lot of money in your 401K plans and have little time to make it up, looking for a place to retire has the potential to be a pipe dream unless you investigate the utilities as well as the home for retirement.  In my case both were achieved.

Salton city is located in the imperial valley, approximately 10 miles east of the San Diego county line and about 13 miles south of the Riverside county line.  It lies on the western shore of the Salton sea. Here is a google map of the area:



Sorry for the poor quality' but as you can see where the "A" is, is the location of Salton city in conjunction to the west coast of the US.  It is about 60 to 70 miles north of the Mexico-US international border.  It is about 160 miles southeast of Los Angeles and 110 miles east northeast of San Diego.


Borrego Springs CA about 30 miles to the west now has a smaller population then Salton City. If 2010 census is used.  I've noticed the gradual change of more off roaders heading towards Salton city then Borrego Springs.  Borrego Springs tends to have a more affluent population and they probably don't mind paying $500 to $600 in summer monthly electric bills.  My guess is those who see the difference moved from there to Salton city to pay only between $150 to $250 for the same electricity.  I almost made the mistake of making Borrego Springs my retirement destination by buying a vacant lot there.  When I saw those electric rates and how they went to dazzling heights from those investor owned utilities I sold the lot about six years ago.  Gasoline for example is usually anywhere from a dollar to a dollar and a half higher per gallon in Borrego then Salton city.

In the Coachella valley, about 30 miles to the north, I read stories in the Desert Sun, (their local paper) where businesses on one side of the street complain about having to pay double to triple electric rates because on their side Edison International (investor owned) has high rates while those on the other under Imperial Irrigation district (public power) were much lower.

Here in California, the investor owned utilities have the California public utilities commission (CPUC) in their pocket.  If your idea is to retire meagerly and on a budget, your best bet is to avoid investor owned utility areas.  Investor owned utilities raise their rates yearly or whenever they deem it necessary to suck more money from their customers. CPUC does not care for the consumer and for this reason you will NEVER see their rates go down.  Although out of fairness to them they do provide a discount to those with limited income. I have heard but not investigated yet that in some other States here in the US investor owned utilities can be cheaper.  My goal at retirement is to live well but also on a limited budget.  To do this, I'll have to stay out of investor owned utility areas.   It is widely known in San Diego that many businesses flee that area citing high electricity costs as one of the main causes. San Diego Gas & Electric has the highest rates in the nation and I don't blame people or businesses who don't want to pay those high rates.

In Salton city the only real wild card is the Salton Communities services district. A California coded government agency.   They handle mainly sewage disposal and fire stations in the West shores communities which consist of Desert shores, Salton Sea Beach and Salton city.  They are annually raising sewage fees and now charge for the fire department to respond to a fire at your home.  According to them, if my house catches fire they will charge me a maximum of $1000.00.  I guess I'll have to make sure to keep plenty of fire extinguishers around my home in case and replace my stove frequently.  I may have to fight smaller fires myself if they occur, but at least knowing that fee occurs will put me on a preventative mode to avoid a fire in the first place.  I do have a fireplace which will have to be inspected each time before use to prevent a fire. It appears no where is safe from something going up faster then income.  As long as these agencies are permitted to use union labor, rates for these services will never go down.  With California's property tax limiting proposition 13 my property taxes on my $43,000 home is limited to 1 percent of the homes purchase price.  In my case around $440 a year.  My sewage charges are expected to rise to close to $600 a year by 2019.  I now see the Salton Communities services district as more of an issue to my retirement security then the County of Imperial and State of California.


I will attempt to use this blog to chronicle my experiences with the area with weather, happenings and harder to do, try to express progress on the fixing up efforts of the Salton sea. 

Salton city business come and go, for example two restaurants were lost recently but we gained a national chain store called Family Dollar.  I describe it as a scaled down version of Wal Mart.  The store has approximately the same square footage as a typical Walgreens.  The store according to management is doing very well.

This is the first of a series of posts I intend to describe the beauty of the area and although the issue of the Salton sea remains in doubt, I don't think California nor the Federal government will let it die for the consequence of that outcome will require a much larger budget to correct since the air quality for hundreds of miles will be severely affected.