City, San Diego County
© McCormack's Guides
Zip Code: 92064
Upscale
community located just east of Interstate 15. Built on mesas and tall hills
with views. Scores high, crime low. www.mccormacks.com
Pronounced
“Pow-way” but some old-timers prefer “Pow-Y.” It’s Indian for “meeting place of
the valleys” or “gourd” (which apparently grew abundantly). Residents are known
as Powegians.
Calls
itself “The City in the Country.” Although generally suburban, Poway borders a
good deal of open country. Many residents own horses. Many homes are built on
large lots.
Click for regional or detailed map
Population 52,056. At buildout, the city
anticipates it will have 57,000 residents.
School
rankings generally in 90th percentile, among highest in the state. Poway
district has laid out academic standards: what students should learn, when they
should learn it and how they can be tested. Over the years, just about every
school in the district has won one or several state awards. See Schools.
Poway
district also wins awards for its computer and technology programs. Classes are
offered for parents to help them get kids ready for school. www.mccormacks.com
In 2005,
after two years of talk and experimenting, the district ventured where schools
are loathe to tred: it adopted a homework policy. Among guidelines: teachers
should choose projects that put students to work, not parents; reading should
be encouraged, and situations avoided where one school assigns a lot of
homework and another school little.
Poway
district, which enrolls 32,600 students, includes Rancho Peñasquitos, Santaluz,
Torrey Highlands, Rancho Bernardo and 4-S Ranch.
Several of
these are new communities and almost every year the district opens a school,
the money coming usually from developers, from parents in the new neighborhoods
(through building fees) and from the state.
In 2002,
voters passed $193 million bond to build, repair and upgrade school facilities.
Some of this money was used to tear down the oldest elementary school in Poway
and replace it with a new one. Many schools are getting rid of or reducing
portables and adding regular classrooms.
Work on all the schools is scheduled to be finished in 2009.
Parents do
lot of fundraising for the individual schools. www.mccormacks.com
Poway
usually has the lowest overall crime rate of the cities in San Diego County and
one of the lowest in the state. Zero homicides in 2007 and 2006, one in 2005, zero in 2004, two in
2003, zero in 2002, one each in 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996 and 1995,
zero in 1994, two in 1993. The counts for the previous years are one, one,
zero, zero, zero and zero. See Crime.
The city
contracts with the sheriff's office for police protection. Sheriff’s substation
in town. Crosswalk signals with digital countdowns alert pedestrians to the
time they have to cross the street.
Up until
1960, Poway was pretty much all horse and jackrabbit country, its growth
limited by the lack of water. The 1950 census counted 125 homes.
About
1954, when suburbia was moving outside San Diego city limits, the community
joined a water district that drew from the Colorado River. Changes came right
away. By 1960, the town had 1,100 housing units.
In the
1960s, the town built 2,500 units and in the 1970s, about 6,200 units. www.mccormacks.com
Development
this fast often upsets people. In 1980, residents incorporated the town as a
city and took control of planning. In the 1980s, Poway constructed about 3,600
units and in the 1990s, about 2,300.
So far
this decade, through 2005, it has built about 625 units, 72 percent of them
single homes aimed the upper middle. Many professionals reside in the town.
The state
in 2010 counted 16,410 housing units, of which 12,231 were single-family
detached, 877 single attached, 2,610 multiples and 692 mobile homes.
Owner-occupied units outnumber rentals 78 percent to 22 percent.
City
leaders want a rounded Poway: residential with a tax base built on
research-commercial-light industry, the latter uses, with the exception of
stores, placed away from the homes.
Sleek and
modern business park, 1,500 acres, on south side of town has hundreds of
businesses, including a Kohl’s department store, a Staples, a Costco and a Home
Depot, over 2,500 jobs. The town also has an auto row. www.mccormacks.com
All are
strong generators of sales tax revenue, a major source of income for the city
(and its parks and services). Other stores include a Wal-Mart and a Target.
Pomerado
Hospital is being modernized (more glass, less concrete, latest high tech) and
expanded, 211 beds (now 107), more outpatient facilities. Work to be completed
in 2007.
For a
sample of older Poway, drive the streets just north of Poway Road and east of
Pomerado Road. Homes and apartments built probably in the 1950s and 1960s.
Two-car garages, three bedrooms, the standard tract homes for the middle class
of this era.
As you
move away from these streets, the homes become newer and sometimes the change
is abrupt, the result of planting a new subdivision next to an older one.
One
section of the town runs to horse estates, built decades ago. Many homes run
along tract suburban lines, ranch style, but upscale: two stories, three-car
garages, tile roofs, the Mediterranean look, clean lines, large lots,
landscaping. Utility lines buried. Everything well-kept. www.mccormacks.com
North of
Espola Road, around the Stoneridge Country Club, large custom homes, modern,
have been built along with just everyday upscale homes. Horse trails meander
through the north side. The landscaping is often striking; large boulders among
the trees and shrubs.
Poway also
has roads that wander off into the country and to horse ranches. Every once in
a while someone complains about stinking horses and efforts are being made to
keep horses away from some residential sections.
Still a lot of open country, especially
to the east. Also a few small orange groves.
The civic
center and many of the stores are located along Poway Road. The city has its
predictable supermarkets and fast-food places but it also an Irish pub and
Dad's Cafe and an international market with 14 varieties of olives, Turkish
teas, Russian pickles, all sorts of lamb cuts, Croatian tripe, and cheeses from
all over the world.
Movies,
bowling alley, billiards. At least 14 parks, including several sports parks
with playing fields, a dog park and a skate park.The lake park, surrounded by miles of park wilderness, has
picnic grounds, baseball fields and miles of trails. Fishing (the lake is
stocked annually), trout derby, midnight catfish derby, boating. One golf
course; several more in region. Riding, hiking, jogging trails, by one estimate
70 miles in and around town. Many homes have own pools. Usual sports, baseball,
soccer, etc. Tour de Poway (bike race). Swim center. Community gym. www.mccormacks.com
Poway
Days, town festival, stages a rodeo. Community center includes pool, three
sports fields, two tennis courts and auditorium. Private fitness center.
Heritage museum. Performing arts center, the pride of the town — plays,
concerts, dance, school and community events — adjoins Poway High School.
Community orchestra that draws players
from the region. Seniors center (bridge, bingo, hot lunches). Skating rink.
Community garden. In 2003, the city council purchased an old lodge on three
acres; it will be turned into a rec-community center.
New
library. Indian interpretive center.
Mount
Woodson and its boulders, to the east of Poway, are popular with rock climbers.
Outdoor
sportscenter (private) in the business park — three tournament softball
fields, roller hockey rink, arena soccer, batting cages, sports pub. Pay to
play. www.mccormacks.com
The main
drawback: Downtown San Diego is 25 to 35 miles away by freeway. On bad days,
these can be long miles. Buses to downtown and airport. In 2004, Highway 56 was
extended to Interstate 5. This greatly shortened the commute to La Jolla, Sorrento
Valley and environs.
About
9,500 homes are to be built west and north of Poway — more vehicles.
Other
drawback: Helicopters at Miramar Air Station. Possibly some noise problems. See
profile on Mira Mesa.
On the
plus side, many jobs, including high tech, in nearby Rancho Bernardo, Scripps
Ranch and Carmel Mountain Ranch. Local jobs, short commute.
The 2000
census placed 31 percent of Powegians under age 18.In 2006, SANDAG estimated the kids at 25 percent and the
median age of residents at 37. Family town but the kids are leaving the nest.
The school district is becoming concerned about declining enrollment. www.mccormacks.com
Chamber of
commerce (858) 748-0016.
• Like
many cities, Poway wants to spruce up its downtown and make it more attractive
to visitors and shoppers. In 2006, meetings were held to solicit ideas from the
public. Tentatively: more cafes, restaurants and shops, townhouses (to support
the stores) and a design that encouraged pedestrian shopping.
• In 2006,
the city okayed construction of its third hotel, 111 rooms and a pool, to be
built in the business park.
• 2007
season for the performing arts center includes “Private Lives,” by Noel Coward,
“1984,” (takeoff on book by George Orwell), “Driving Miss Daisy” and a
children’s theater production of “The Little Mermaid.” The center offers acting
and singing classes for the kids.
•
Unexpectedly high construction costs may force the school district to cut back
on improvements at some schools. District trustees are thinking about asking
voters for money to complete jobs as planned.
City
web site: www.ci.poway.ca.us
