Reflections on some differences between Olmsted Falls, OH and the SF Bay Area

I've been thinking the last couple of days about the many things that are different about living here in Olmsted Falls, OH as opposed to the San Francisco Bay Area. I am certain that the longer I am here, the more I will notice. But I am also certain that after a time some of the things I'm now noticing will seem so normal that I will forget them unless I make a note of it now, so, without judgment or comment, here are differences I am now noticing between our community in CA and our community here in Olmsted Falls, OH:

1. Obviously this is a much, much more homogeneous area than the Bay Area. I've moved from a church with people from different countries (Indonesia, Cameroon, Holland) and different ethnic backgrounds (too many to name) to a church that has only a couple people of color in it. My kids' schools were over 50% people of color in CA, here they are almost completely white.

2. There is not as much recycling or conservation going on here. No curb-side paper recycling. No curb-side composting, (no green bin at all, actually, for yard trimmings either, etc.). Recycling is expected to be minimal, so people are allowed to put out a blue plastic bag with recyclable items in it, as opposed to CA where you have a very small garbage can in contrast to the very large recycling bins put out every week.

3. They still have people who come out here to your house once a month to check on your gas/electric meters manually - this is not done electronically or digitally yet.

4. I have yet to see a house here with solar panels on it, including the new houses. Actually, the only solar panels I have seen at all here were at the science center (big surprise!).

5. Car smog regulations are minimal here, as opposed to CA.

6. The "high speed internet" here is both unreliable and slow. Speed and reliability are obviously much greater near the Silicon Valley.

7. There are not only speed limit signs posted, but also "minimum speed limit" signs posted on every freeway here.

8. There are street signs here that tell you what street is coming up ahead. Signs such as "Nobottom street, 500 feet" (not kidding about the name of the street, by the way!). This is very helpful to people from out of town!!

9. Most houses do not have fences around the yards. There is nothing to separate lots but trees, creating a much more open feel.

10. There are no mail trucks in our town!! The postal carriers do not wear uniforms and they drive their own vehicles to deliver the mail!!

11. Car salesmen do not seem to behave the same way here: we went to check out a used car that was for sale at the dealership. When we arrived, the car was already sold. The dealer said to us, "Oh, sorry about that," and then he walked off! He didn't try to sell us something else. He didn't even ask us if we were interested in looking at something else. Mark and I were stunned!!

12. They bus kids to school here. It's just like when we were kids: kids of all ages (including my kindergartener) walk to the bus-stop, where they are picked up by a bus to go to school. After school, they are dropped off at a bus-stop and they walk themselves home. Amazing.

13. "Snacks" that schools provide to children are usually candy, punch and other sweet things. There seems to be a definite lack of health consciousness in terms of foods at the schools and at other programs for kids. I have yet to take my child to a program here (including library time and mommy-and-me class given through the public education system here) that did not try to give my kid(s) some kind of candy or other sweet treat.

14. Parents also seem to leave their children at home alone a lot younger than in CA where it is actually against the law to leave a kid under the age of 12 home alone. Not that there weren't many parents in CA who ignored this law or who were unaware of it (some close to me), but it seems a far greater number do this here. The "latch key kid" phenomenon is pretty prevelant here, whereas in CA, there are more and more afterschool programs that kids stay in until their parents get off work.

15. Pre-schools here are not flexible about the hours the children go to school. Three year olds in pre-school here have one option: two mornings a week for two hours. The days the kids go is school-specific (again, not flexible, but specific at each school), but every pre-school has three year olds going two mornings a week for two hours. When they become four, they go three days a week for two hours. If you need more care than that, your child must go to day-care instead of pre-school. In CA, you can pick the times, and days (both the number of days and what days you want them to go), as well as the number of hours your pre-schooler goes to school, though they would never go to a school for less than three hours at a time.

16. Car seat law in CA is that children must be six years old or sixty pounds. Legislators are trying to change this to eight and eighty pounds. In OH, the law is four and forty pounds.

17. Grocery stores here are starting to carry some organic products. They are a lot more expensive, as they are in CA when you go to a "regular" grocery store and try to buy organic. In CA you can get around this by going to stores that specialize in organic foods such as Whole Foods. At least on the West side of Cleveland there is no store like that.

18. Generally speaking, people are much more polite in OH. Also much less direct. I've been accused of being "bull-headed" here. While I understand that that usually means stubborn, I haven't been stubborn about anything here, and I'm coming to believe this has a lot more to do with being direct. Being direct is not always considered polite.

19. Of course the whole snow phenomenon is different here: every home owner has a hired snowplow company who does their streets and drive ways. It is an added but necessary winter expense.

20. There is an NPR station here that broadcasts classical music without commercials!! The only classical station in SF was a for-profit station.

21. A lot more people smoke here. I know several people here whom I love dearly who smoke. I didn't know a single person who smoked in CA.

22. Schools are paid for in some weird way that has actually been twice declared illegal by the supreme court, but no-one here enforces that decision. So, this has to do with levys that are voted on by each town/community. As a result, the quality of education varies HUGELY from city to city here (not that it doesn't in CA, but CA is more consistently bad in its public education because of lack of funding than here where these levies can boost some school districts up a great deal).

23. There is a free National Art Museum here and the NASA center is free. Very nice.

24. PBS, or "public broadcasting system" requires cable to be accessed here....you have to PAY to receive the public broadcasting system here!!!! (yes, I have written to them in great irritation).

25. While in both the Bay Area and the Cleveland area, suburbs are all smushed together so that you can't tell where one city begins and the other ends, we live now in a city with population of 7,000 people as opposed to the 60,000 of San Leandro. At the same time, our kids go to a school that is only k-3 grades, and yet there are 1200 kids at the school. (The school covers two "cities" here). There is only one elementary school here for these two cities. Then there is a school they call "intermediate" which is for 4-5 grades, etc. In other words, all the kids of the same age go to one school. Schools are not divided so much by location as by age.

26. People in the Bay Area care about sports. People in Cleveland would literally die for their teams!!!! If you can't talk sports, you can't speak the language (yes, Mark and I are in trouble now!). Article in the local paper that talked about Obama today, spoke about what he was doing in football terms. This is how they talk here.

27. Check-out clerks in the stores in CA might say "hi, how are you?" but they don't mean it and just as often, they say nothing at all. Here in OH, check-out clerks want to be your best friend. They are all friendly and seem genuinely interested. They talk about the things you are buying, they make suggestions about how to buy better, or differently, they ask how you like different products and about your children and your family, etc. This is consistent at every store we have visited.

28. I've already mentioned some other things: the fact that people are not suing everybody over every opportunity, for example

I'll stop for now. When I think of more, I'll add it in.

good night.