YUBA CITY, CALIFORNIA

'Yuba City' is the county seat of Sutter County, California, United States. It is the principal city of the Yuba City Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Sutter County and Yuba County. As of January 1 2006, the city had a total population of 62,083[3], while the metro area's population was 165,080[4]. It is the 21st largest metropolitan area in California ranked behind Redding and Chico.

Contents

Geography

Demographics

General

Sikh parade

History

Ancient

Recent

Schools

Parks

Museums

Agriculture

John Sutter

Sunsweet Inc. headquarters

Sister/twin cities

References

External links

Government agencies

Geography

Yuba City is located at 39°8'5" North, 121°37'34" West (39.134792, -121.626201). The Feather River lies at the edge of Yuba city.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 24.4 km² (9.4 mi²). 24.3 km² (9.4 mi²) of it is land and 0.2 km² (0.1 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 0.64% water.
The Yuba City area is 40 minutes north of Sacramento and is part of the Sacramento Valley. Sutter County is also home to the smallest mountain range in the world (the Sutter Buttes[5]). The area is sometimes called the "Feather River Valley" named for the river that divides Yuba City from its neighbor Marysville. An example is the minor league baseball team, the Feather River Mudcats of the Western Baseball League in the late 1990s.

Demographics

General

As of the census of 2000, there are 36,758 people (60,507 as of 1/1/2006), 13,290 households, and 8,944 families residing in the city. The population density is 1,514.7/km² (3,924.4/mi²). There are 13,912 housing units at an average density of 573.3/km² (1,485.3/mi²). The racial makeup of the city is 66.95% White, 2.82% African American, 1.75% Native American, 8.93% Asian, 0.29% Pacific Islander, 14.37% from other races, and 4.89% from two or more races. 24.56% of the population are Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There are 13,290 households out of which 36.7% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 47.6% are married couples living together, 14.3% have a female householder with no husband present, and 32.7% are "non-families." 26.5% of all households are made up of individuals and 9.7% have someone living alone who is 65 years of age or older. The average household size is 2.70 and the average family size is 3.28.
In the city the population is spread out with 29.0% under the age of 18, 10.7% from 18 to 24, 29.4% from 25 to 44, 18.7% from 45 to 64, and 12.2% who are 65 years of age or older. The median age is 32 years. For every 100 females there are 95.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there are 91.7 males.
The median income for a household in the city is $32,858, and the median income for a family is $39,381. Males have a median income of $34,303 versus $23,410 for females. The per capita income for the city is $15,928. 18.1% of the population and 14.5% of families are below the poverty line. Out of the total population, 24.8% of those under the age of 18 and 9.5% of those 65 and older are living below the poverty line.

Sikh parade

Yuba City is known for its sizeable Sikh community. The Punjabi population in the Yuba-Sutter Area has grown to be one of the largest in the United States and one of the largest Sikh populations outside of the Punjab state of India. Each year on the first Sunday of November Sikhs from the United States, Canada, India, the United Kingdom and throughout the world attend the Sikh parade in Yuba City, which commemorates the receipt by Sikhs of their Holy scripture, the Guru Granth Sahib, in 1708. The 4.5-mile-long parade features floats and a procession of parade participants. The 2005 parade, the 26th to be held, drew an estimated 55,000 Sikhs. The parade provides economic benefits to Punjabi culture sections of the city as well, such as the Punjab Bazaar (an Indian imported goods provider owned by the Nakhwals) which experiences increases in sales similar to that of retail stores such as Wal Mart during the holiday season.

History

Ancient

The Maidu tribe settled this locale in prehistoric times.^[1] The Yuba City area was not significantly influenced by early Spanish and Mexican activity. Trappers occasionally worked the area in the early 1830s, and Settlement by American pioneers in the 1840s. The principal occupations of the settlers were fur trading, livestock raising and some crop production. The year 1848 ushered in the gold rush era.

Recent

In 1971, Juan Vallejo Corona, known as the "Machete Murderer" went on a six week killing spree, sodomizing, murdering and mutilating 25 men whose bodies he buried in shallow orchard graves.[6] The trial of this serial killer was the subject of the 1974 book, ''The Road To Yuba City'' by Tracy Kidder.
Yuba City battled a negative image for over two decades, because of the area's high crime, poverty rates, youth gangs, and illegal drug trade. In 1985, Rand McNally's Places Rated Almanac rated Yuba City the worst city in which to live in the United States[7]: 329th of 329 cities rated, much to the dismay of the residents. In 2005, Yuba City was finally not in the bottom 50 any longer. Since 2000, Yuba City and most of Sutter County have experienced rapid population growth.
The evening of April 18, 2007, 28 year old Jeffery Thomas Carney threatened a similar shooting spree that would make the Virginia Tech massacre look "mild in comparison."[8] He turned himself in at about 9:30 PM PDT the next day, April 19, after already causing the 12,000-student school district to be locked down for the day.[9]
In addition to the schools being locked down by this threat, both area hospitals (Fremont Medical Center and Rideout Memorial Hospital, part of the Fremont-Rideout Health Group) we put under a total lockdown or "Restricted Access", the first due to threats. The lockdown tied up FRHG's Security Contingent (14 Full Time Officers) for nearly 24 hours.

Schools

Public schools are part of the Yuba City Unified School District[10].

★ River Valley High School

★ Faith Christian High School

★ Yuba City High School

★ Sutter Union High School

★ Albert Powell Continuation High School

★ Gray Avenue Middle School

★ Andros Karperos Middle School: It has an enrollment of approximately 1,200 students and has been running since the early to mid 1990s. It is often called simply AK and in within the Yuba City Unified School District.

★ Park Avenue Elementary School

★ King Avenue Elementary School

★ Tierra Buena Elementary School

★ Barry Elementary School

★ Butte Vista Elementary School

★ St Isidores School

★ Grace Christian School

★ Lincrest Elementary School

★ Lincoln Elementary School: It is located at the corner of Lincoln Road and Walton Avenue.

★ Bridge Street Elementary School: The principal is Frank Alverez, a former elementary school teacher. It is the oldest elementary school still open in Yuba City.

★ April Lane Elementary School

★ Central Gather Elementary School

★ Yuba City Charter School

Parks

Community parks:

★ Sam Brannan Park

★ Blackburn-Talley Sports Complex/Park

★ Gauche Park
Neighborhood parks:

★ Bogue Park

★ Greenwood Park

★ Happy Park

★ Hillcrest Park

★ Kingwood Park

★ Lloyd Park

★ Maple Park

★ Moore Park

★ Nakwhal Park

★ Northridge Park

★ Patriot Park

★ Regnecy Park

★ Shanghai Garden Park

★ Southside Park
Passive parks:

★ Clark-Ainsley Mini Park

★ Plumas Tower Plaza Mini Park

★ Veterans Memorial Park
Other recreational facilities:

★ April Lane School/Park

★ Geweke Field

★ City Hall

★ Senior Center

★ Feather River Levee Bike Trail

Museums

★ Community Memorial Museum of Sutter County

Agriculture

The Yuba-Sutter area is not as developed a tourist location as the wine-producing counties to the southwest, but it has some of the best agricultural land in the United States, placed between the Sierra Nevada mountains to the east and the Coast Range to the west.

John Sutter

Yuba City's agricultural history dates back to the 1840s when John Sutter started a stock ranch that was later set on fire by vandals. However, since then people have continued to move to and cultivate crops due to the fertile soil and great climate. The ten leading crops in cultivation are rice, beans, tomatoes, melons, alfalfa, hay, tree crops of peaches, almonds, walnuts, and plums.

Sunsweet Inc. headquarters

Yuba City is home to the largest prune packing plant in the world[11], Sunsweet Growers Incorporated, so it isn't surprising that beginning in 1988 Yuba City was home to the California Prune Festival. In 2001 the name was changed to the California Dried Plum Festival and in early 2003 directors announced the end of the festival's 15 year run in the Yuba-Sutter area. This was primarily due to rise in costs, difficulty in securing sponsors, and competition from other festivals.

Sister/twin cities

★ - Fujishiro, Ibaraki, Japan as determined by sister cities international.

References

1. ''Final Environmental Impact Report'', Yuba City Redevelopment Project, Earth Metrics Incorporated, prepared for the city of Yuba City, May, 1989

External links

Government agencies

★ City of Yuba City

★ Yuba City Police Department