bingo!I never said Sonora wasn't a nice place to live. Sonora is also not a place where a manufacturing business is going to get any of the benefits of living near a place like Los Angeles (which was the whole topic of this thread).
Sonora is practically the poster child for white flight. Want to get away from California but stay in California? Redding. Oh, too far? Okay, Sonora.
You still have the same crap laws and taxes the rest of us do. One long time friend's parents lived in Sonora and he was up there constantly. Another friend's brother currently lives in Strawberry. I'm familiar with the area. When somebody says "I want to live the California lifestyle" they aren't imagining Modesto as being their "big city."
modesto, stockton, merced, madera, tulare, bakersfield... some of the worst shitholes i've had the displeasure of seeing firsthand.