True. Fresno rule of thumb: live north of Herndon or east of Nees. Clovis is nice.
I liked it there. Enjoyed being able to ride my bicycle almost any day of the week. Well, almost. When I first arrived, my car was still back in KC, so I rode my bike to work and home every day (about 30 miles). Rented a car on the w/e if I needed it. One Saturday, I rode my bike up to the WalMart on Herndon.
As I was getting ready to chain it, this big ese walks right up to a bike that's chained next to mine. He takes his bolt cutters and chomps through the chain, picks up the bike and starts to walk away. In broad daylight. At a Walmart. On a busy Saturday. As he walked away I said "Man, you're a good union thief, working on Saturday and all". (spidey sense begins to tingle as I know I should have said nothing). He said: Yea, And I'll be back to get
that one. Points at my $1600 bike and only mode of transport until my car arrives. I unchained my bike, rode home and took the city bus back to WalMart. (another fantastic place to see first hand Fresno crazies up close).
I talked to the Police about it. They said bicycle theft is "rampant and we can't stop it". The detective I spoke to over the phone said "
Never leave your bike unattended. Even then they'll walk up and jack it from you at gunpoint. So be extra cautious in suspect neighborhoods". Not erxactly a ringing endorsement for the city, but I took the advice to heart.
Fresno is also the stolen car capital of the country. The actually put the faces of the "Top 5 car thieves in the Fresno" on the front page of the paper so folks would know who they were. Had their pictures in the paper and everything. The jail was too crowded and they determined they weren't violent offenders so they let them out early to make room for violent criminals. Here's the link.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2012/01/25/2697313/fresno-has-a-new-top-5-car-thieves.html