Longtime Residents More Likely to Be Upset by Area’s Fast Growth : Times poll: Declining quality of life and crime are key issues for them, while newcomers are more concerned with high housing costs.

Perhaps more than any other factor, perceptions about life in North County--what’s good about it, and what’s bad about it--are colored by how long that person has lived here.

With some exceptions, a Los Angeles Times Poll has found that those who have lived in North County for more than 20 years are the ones who are souring on the area the most.

Old-timers are about half as likely to say that the quality of life in the county has improved during the past decade as newcomers--people who have lived in the area for five years or less. More dramatically, a majority of old-timers--by a 4-to-1 margin--say the quality of life in San Diego County has worsened, versus improved, over the past 10 years.

By contrast, fewer than 4 newcomers out of 10 see life getting worse in San Diego County--probably either because they haven’t been around long enough to notice insidious changes for the worse, or because they’re what the old-timers are complaining about.

One of the newcomers is 23-year-old Shelly Carter, who moved to Solana Beach from Santa Barbara two years ago so she could attend classes at San Diego State University--and who now has no plans on leaving.

“This is the place for me,” she proclaims.

She cites the sun, the beach, her new-found friends--and the fact there are more business opportunities here than back home in Santa Barbara.

“You have to be careful about growth because it brings problems--especially environmental ones,” she says. “But you need growth to flourish. There’s more of a future here.”

But old-timers--the folks who have been around long enough to see the character of North County change--are finding that the new character, more urban and urbane, isn’t what they want.

Custom home builder Con Slack lived in Vista for 18 years before moving four years ago to Fallbrook. He talks about how his values contrast with those who are just now arriving in North County.

“They’re more ‘me’ oriented,” he grouses. “It’s ‘I this’ and ‘I that’ and they only speak about their problems, not our problems. They’re the ones who call the sheriff for a small complaint so he can’t get to the person who has a real one.

“And they seem to be producing ‘wannabe’ kids who want to be able to do this or that right now, and kids who deal in drugs and booze and all other chemical stimulants. They’re infecting our kids.”

Like Slack, other longtime residents are nearly three times more likely than newcomers to say they chose their community for a rural lifestyle--a lifestyle they find diminishing in North County as one-time open space is lost to housing to accommodate the newcomers. Not surprisingly, then, they are more than twice as likely as newcomers to say their community no longer holds the attraction that first drew them.

And because they have watched their rural landscapes shrink and their towns fill with new apartments and housing tracts, they are three times more likely than newcomers to complain that growth is what they like least about their community. Newcomers might feel more sheepish in complaining about growth, of course; they are the ones who most recently have caused it. Others say that growth ensures a better, more well-rounded community, and that’s good.

“I’m from Sugarland, Tex., and in Texas everyone mainly thinks about one thing: oil,” says John Habegger, a 22-year-old lance corporal in the Marine Corps who is attending MiraCosta College in Oceanside. He hopes to eventually earn a degree in business and perhaps settle down here.

“When oil goes down, so does the economy. But San Diego is branching out a lot, and that’s the reason San Diego is doing so well, with growth and new businesses bringing in still more money to the community. That brings more people, and the more people you bring, the broader horizons there are for still more and different businesses and that creates a better situation for everyone,” Habegger said.

On some counts, longtime residents are happier than newcomers with life in North County.

For instance, 73% of those who have lived in North County longer than 20 years have some or a lot of confidence in the local schools; by contrast, only 57% of the newcomers have that same confidence.

And two-thirds of the old-timers believe San Diego’s beaches are safe for swimming; in contrast, only 44% of the newcomers do.

Newcomers and old-timers agree that the biggest problem facing the county overall is drugs. But newcomers, who most recently were confronted with the current housing market, say affordable housing is the second biggest problem facing the county. Old-timers list traffic as the second greatest problem.

Longtime residents--whether because many of them are older, more frail and feel more vulnerable, or because they remember the days when fewer strangers walked their neighborhoods--see North County as a more dangerous place to live than do the recent arrivals. Among old-timers, only 64% feel safe to walk the streets of their neighborhood at night, while 81% of the newcomers feel safe.

Part of the difference in opinions and lifestyles might stem from demographics--including one of the most basic of all: 59% of the old-timers are 40 or older; 59% of the newcomers are younger than 40.

Newcomers are almost three times as likely to be renters: 44% compared with 15% for old-timers. But the newcomers to North County nonetheless pay more for housing: 27% are paying $1,000 or more in monthly rental or mortgage, while 14% of the old-timers are paying those kinds of prices.

Some people who rent--like Ardiss Morgan--say they’ll never buy a home here.

Morgan, a computer data technician for a San Marcos publisher, and her truck-driver husband, Dennis, transplanted themselves 3 1/2 years ago to Vista from Clinton, Iowa. They were attracted here by the climate and job opportunities, but they don’t figure on staying here long.

“We’re not ever going to own a house out here,” she said. “These prices are too outrageous. We’d like to move to Atlanta, Ga. The houses are priced right there, and besides, in Atlanta it’s green all year round.”

But like Morgan and her husband, newcomers to North County are more likely to be double-income households than old-timers.

Longtime North County residents are less likely to be professional or white-collar workers than newcomers--but, on the other hand, they are more likely than newcomers to be executives, administrators or owners of their own business.

They also are more likely to be Anglo.

In addition, virtually all old-timers claim U.S. citizenship; among newcomers to the county, nearly a fifth are not U.S. citizens.

Maybe it is because they’ve seen the changing ethnicity of North County over the years; old-timers are more likely than newcomers to say that the Latino lifestyle has changed San Diego County for the worse.

And, like Escondido resident Dale Robertson, they are twice as likely to say that the main effect of recent immigration has been increased crime.

“When I was growing up here,” said Robertson, who has lived in Escondido for 27 of his 29 years, “I was able to leave the keys in my car and the front door of my house unlocked. Now you see all the migrant workers everywhere and you’re hesitant, you know? I’m not blaming them, but they might get desperate and you might be a victim.

“That’s especially true on (construction) job sites. I’m working my butt off, and go back to my truck and something’s gone and you know it’s not one of your fellow workers because they’ve been working as hard as you. It’s the illegal aliens standing around who see you leave your truck and they walk up and grab something.”

Not only are longtime residents more likely than newcomers to bear a grudge against Latinos, they’re less sympathetic toward them in schooling and living conditions.

A majority of old-timers dislike the notion of teaching some public school classes in Spanish--primarily because it would take funds away from other educational programs. By contrast, one in three newcomers opposes teaching some classes in Spanish.

About half of the old-timers support the notion of government providing housing and food for migrant workers--the alternative being to raze the migrant camps altogether and drive them elsewhere. But more newcomers--60%--support government help for the migrant workers.

Why don’t immigrants find more friends among longtime North County residents?

Roberto Martinez, who has studied migrant issues for 10 years on behalf of the American Friends Service Committee, suggests that negative images--including, in this case, ones about the impact of migrants--make stronger and longer-lasting impressions than do positive images.

Ergo, he says, the longer one has lived here, the more likely one has read and heard--and retained--negative reports about immigrants, while the positive contributions are more easily forgotten.

“The longer people live here and are exposed to the Latino community and migrant workers, the more they’ve formed biased opinions based either on misinformation or myth,” Martinez says. “The newcomers haven’t been here long enough to be affected that way.”

TAKING THE LONG VIEW

Oldtimers in North County take a dimmer view of recent changes than do newcomers. People who have lived in the county more than 20 years are more likely to have chosen their community for its rural setting; and, as rural settings have been disappearing, they are far more likely to say that growth is the worst aspect of their community. Newcomers tend more to feel safe in their neighborhoods and to feel that the county’s quality of life has improved in the past decade.

People Who Have Lived in County Five Years More Than or Less 20 Years Have confidence in local 57% 73% schools Want health over all else 50% 70% Quality of life has improved 23% 12% in past decade Chose community for rural 9% 27% setting Now live in rural setting 19% 36% Growth is worst aspect of 9% 26% community Feel very safe walking in 47% 25% neighborhood at night Have put down roots in 61% 92% community North County is an area of 35% 43% common interests Protect economy over 13% 21% environment Ocean is safe for swimming 44% 65% Average age 49.2 years 59.8 years

Source: Los Angeles Times Poll

WHY LEAVE?

Longtimers in North County naturally have put down deeper roots. As a result, they are far less likely to foray northward. And they are more likely to think of North County as a community of its own, with common interests.

Have put down roots in community: North County residents who have lived in county Five years or less: 61% North County residents who have lived in county More than 20 years: 92%

North County is an area of common interest: North County residents who have lived in county Five years or less: 35% North County residents who have lived in county More than 20 years: 43%

Did not go to Orange County within the past month: North County residents who have lived in county Five years or less: 64% North County residents who have lived in county More than 20 years: 79%

Did not go to Los Angeles County within past month: North County residents who have lived in county Five years or less: 60% North County residents who have lived in county More than 20 years: 84%

FINANCIAL SQUEEZE

Newcomers to North County pay more money each month for housing yet have lower incomes than longtime residents. Little wonder they are more likely to identify affordable housing as San Diego County’s biggest problem.

People who have lived in San Diego County Five Years More Than or Less 20 Years Median monthly housing $704 $514 payment Median household income $37,652 $38,609 % of income that goes 22% 16% toward housing Say affordable housing is 34% 23% county’s biggest problem Homeowners 48% 64%

Source: Los Angeles Times Poll