New York Times picks baffling Bay Area city to give glowing review

The New York Times printed a glowing profile this week on Vacaville, to Bay Area city that is well-known, however not all the time celebrated. And whereas publicity within the nation’s newspaper of report is a welcome shock, some Solano County locals have been baffled by how their bucolic city was offered to the remainder of the nation.

“First of all, I didn’t understand why the article was being written. What was the intent? Was it to discuss ‘vaca’ — a cow? A historical perspective? If so, I don’t think they went about it in the right way,” Sarah Chapman, a member of the Vacaville City Council, informed SFGATE on Thursday by cellphone after studying the piece.

Chapman mentioned that Vacaville is a wonderful group and it was good to see it seem in a constructive gentle, however she questioned why profileprinted within the Times’ actual property part, highlighted some areas whereas overlooking others.

For occasion, Chapman famous that the part on the world’s training relegated the Vacaville Unified School District to a single sentence, however promoted the deserves of its non-public, constitution and Christian colleges in additional element.

The councilmember additionally objected to how the Times solely talked about close by Vallejo to painting it as affected by a “reputation for violent crime.”

“I didn’t think there was a need to provide a comparative to the other cities in the county,” Chapman mentioned. “Each of the cities that make up Solano have their own culture and bring something positive to the lives of the residents. We’re all neighbors.”

Interstate 80 bisects Vacaville and almost 700,000 vehicles cross by the world day by day. Due to this repeated publicity, the city is typically diminished to what’s visible from the car window. It’s why practically each time somebody writes about Vacaville, they point out the Nut Tree. Vestiges of the celebrated roadside vacation spot (the place Gov. Gavin Newsom’s divorced dad and mom would meet for handoffs when he was little one) are nonetheless obvious, although the Nut Tree closed 30 years in the past.

The Times article makes an effort to steer away from the interstate and highlight Vacaville’s downtown together with a couple of long-standing companies. However, it bungles the geography. The article’s subhead notes that Vacaville is an choice for residing “nearby” each San Francisco and Sacramento, when these cities are greater than 50 and 30 miles away, respectively, by a few of the Bay Area’s most high-traffic corridors (the article recommends taking the practice). Later, it overlooks the city’s plentiful open house, limiting its recreation choices to Napa’s Wine Country and Lake Berryessaeach situated in a unique county.

Whether intentional or not, the profile reduces Vacaville to simply one other place between locations. With regard to the city’s vibe, the Times wrote, “Vacaville has a refreshing lack of prevailing culture.”

When the Times author, Alexander Nazaryan, who lives on the East Coastfirst contacted one of many city’s native sons for an interview, actual property dealer Mark McGuire mentioned he thought it was “BS.” McGuire was pleasantly shocked to be taught the request was reliable and, over the vacations, drove Nazaryan round city for a couple of hours.

“As a realtor, it was very interesting to give him a tour as I do with clients,” McGuire mentioned. “Usually, I’m pointing out pros and cons, but then I thought, ‘Focus, Mark, only share the good stuff.’”

McGuire mentioned he’s a “cheerleader for this town” and that it was refreshing to examine Vacaville past I-80, In-N-Out Burger and outlet shops. That nonetheless did not shake a few of the bewilderment he felt after studying about his hometown within the New York Times.

“The last profile they did was on Portland, I don’t know how you go from Portland to Vacaville,” he mentioned. “I love Vacaville, but I think more people would be interested in Portland.”