Because Pacifico Student Cooperative Housing went through a couple of phases, these may be distinguished from the current one. Or, perhaps, there are limitations to the site, &/or design, &/or cooperative model, which will produce similar results even with different management. To preserve the history and add to the potential for research, a Comment Archive is preserved here.
The comments were retrieved from the Pacifico page information.
These were from before the NASCO affiliation
2005-05-25 10:13:52 I lived there for a year. It was awful. The general architectural design wasn't conducive to cooperative living at all (basically, it made it quite possible to just stay in your room most of the time), and due to incompetent marketing, many of the residents didn't realize it was anything more than a cheap apartment until the day they moved in. That was just the first year though, and things may have gotten better since then, but I'm still rather suspicious. —BarnabasTruman
2005-11-16 16:26:40 I do not live there but a friend of mine does. What they have experienced agrees with the other comments. From what I have heard many students who have moved there did not know it was a co-op until they moved in. —MyaBrn
2005-11-18 16:30:18 All i want to say is that every house has a different atmosphere and chemistry among housemates. I've lived in A house for more than 2 years and i enjoy living there. You should come back and visit to see the improvements we made. Lots of stuffs are going on. I don't know if you have heard about Resident Council, it is run by interested residents for house improvement. Maybe you are one of those people who just sleep there. If you choose to live there, why not dig up everything about the place? —EthanKong
2005-11-18 16:33:58 If anyone is interested in coming to our Thanksgiving dinner next Monday 7-ish, email me. we have a giant dinner planned. —EthanKong
2005-11-18 17:36:30 Those 1st two commeters are wack and shouldn't be looked upon for the truth of the matter. The reality with any Davis blind housing situation, is that residents are at risk of living with some crummy fellow students that don't make the effort to get to know their neighbors. I've been living at Pacifico for more then 3 years and as of yet, have only run into a couple people who haven't liked the housing situation. These were people like Mr. Truman who wanted to be in solitude throughout the entire day. —EddieGalbavy
2005-11-19 00:52:27 What do you mean, "Mr. Truman... wanted to be in solitude throughout the entire day"? I took the job of house manager because nobody else wanted it, and because I thought maybe I could organize the residents and make things better. I was wrong; most of the residents just didn't care. I also wedged my way into the DCC Board of Directors in hopes of maybe getting some influence and steering things in a better direction. Again, it didn't work—DCC is (or was, anyway) an old boys' club with no interest in listening to dissenting voices. In short: I did everything I could to get that co-op working in its first year of existence, and it still failed. Don't accuse me of being "wack," untruthful, or "wanting to be in solitude throughout the entire day." —BarnabasTruman
2005-11-20 18:57:22 The place is very dysfunctional for the most part. To me it seems that the majority of the residents are pretty apathetic to the concept of co-operative living and look at it as just a cheap place to live. Nothing really gets done and the existing structures and rules generally aren't adhered to or enforced. It doesnt matter in the long run as the Co-Op Board is having a hard time making the loan payments on this place and we may all be gone when our leases expire. —AnonEmuss —AnonEmuss
2005-11-23 11:31:23 Like you said, it is apathetic that a lot of residents in the house, especially B, are not willing to contribute their time into improving their housing enjoyment level. And thank you for Truman's work as a house manager of one of the houses (don't know which) at such a difficult time, the 1st year of Pacifico Co-op. But the thing is - it is a long time ago. What happened to your life in the last few years! YOu Can't keep the same view on things for more than a day! Things change and we are absolutly different than the time you're here. By the way, if anyone sees the co-op as a cheap place to live, they should not sign their lease at all. There are some other cheap places too, why pick this one that does not fit your life style? When Nasco step in, no one can lack on their contribution as a co-oper anymore. This place is for personal improvement and interpersonal communication, not mean to be only a cheap place to live!!!!! —EthanKong
2005-11-23 23:00:34 I apologize for making the wack accusation...I realize that residents go into the co-op with different expectations, and I personally really enjoy the ability to, at times, get really involved and get to know other members of the house; then at other times, close my door, do my own thing and not have to socialize. In other words, I sorta see it as a good starter co-op. If you are really looking for a tight-knit commune, then yeah, you might be disappointed...but I was looking for part single-guy apartment, part cooperative, and a really affordable rent; and that's what I've experienced so far. Plus, I agree with E-Kong. —EddieGalbavy
2006-02-16 14:19:40 Mostly harmless and if you speak Cantonese this is the place for you —AmiBitter
2006-02-22 00:17:53 I also don't live there but heard rumors that the rooms are really small, not friendly to people who wants more space. I also heard that the walls are thin, you can hear everything your neighbors are doing, plus the house politics and drama with twenty something people, bleh. —AsukaRei
2006-02-23 20:58:11 The walls are indeed paper thin and the doors slam like bank vaults when people close them they also have funny electronic locks that are really annoying. The rooms are really tiny although there are a few large ones on every floor. Politics here is pretty harmless the drama is all petty for the most part. over all a good group of folks, but living in mass as it were can be trying. —IsthisRight
2006-04-06 12:22:05 Pacifico has been a really great experience for me. The people that I live with are wonderful. Currently the co-op is going through a reorganization that could use new and interesting people. It is a very open environment that allows you to interact with new cultures and people. If you enjoy living in a group, check us out! :) —ChrisAltavilla
2006-04-23 21:15:44 Questions for those who do/have lived there (answer in page text if you wish): What are weekly duty examples? Are meals eaten together? Anything else special? —SteveDavison
2006-06-27 20:35:44 Pacifico management is very poor on maintaince our latest problem is a chronic lack of water pressure it is impossible to take a shower here in the morning and in the evening it is not much better. there are myriad problems that need to be fixed here. i can't recommend this place to anyone. —IsthisRight
2006-06-29 08:11:41 Writing as somone who has lived in, worked for, and co-managed cooperative housing for the past 13 years, I have observed that the Pacifico residents historically have felt disempowered as a result of an outside management company. Co-ops are supposed to be self-managed and controlled! Starting Sept. 1, the management company will be completely gone, and the members will have control and responsibility for addressing the marketing, house atmosphere, maintenance concerns, etc. Like "IsThisRight" and some of the other posts, I wouldn't recommend living in a co-op run by a professional management company. It's disempowering and dysfunctional, to say the least. But I did live at Pacifico (specially kaweah house) for two months (I was in davis temporarily) and found my housemates enthusiastic, caring, motivated, cooperative, and working very hard to create a resident-empower co-op that will start officially in two months. Anyone who moves in now will have a lot of influence of organizing Pacifico co-op. I think it's challenging to switch from a disempowered tenant perspective to one of cooperative ownership, but amazing when it happens.—HoJoSparks
- Note: Holly Jo Sparks is also the Director of NASCO Administration & Development.
2006-07-04 09:47:38 Water pressure is now fixed. —KyleHinshaw
2006-10-03 17:39:40 I just noticed that Pacifico's association with NASCO has been posted here as beginning September 1, 2006. I recall an association between Pacific and NASCO far earlier. Since Pacifico receives City of Davis funds, I believe they got a community block grant, this should be fairly easy to research. —AlphaDog
- Note: Pacifico was already an active member and supporter of NASCO, when members of Pacifico approached NASCO regarding their management concerns in 2003. It wasn't until Fall 2005, however, that the DCC Board initiated a formal process of partnering with NASCO, which went into effect on Sept 1, 2006.
2007-06-29 13:43:09 KwokChungYu, my roommate from the dorms, will be living here for 07-08. -JasonDunne
2007-08-31 15:14:38 This place is a drama filled sesspool that is only slightly cheaper than geting an apartment. The walls are thin, the cleaning/basic supplies such as paper towels and toilet paper are in short supply despite which of the 4 houses you live in. The up side is that it is home to many international students, especially Asians and the culture is diverse. The location stinks, it's near a farm seperated by the bike path where people notoriously use the bench area to do drugs (of a high caliber) and the residents and the management company at Sharps and Flats (the apartment complex Pacifico faces) are very rude and stay up late partying, only being out done by the 6:45am wake-up call of lawn mowers and leaf blowers from their gardners. Overall, a cheap situation no one should place themself in for too long. Also, if you are of a particuarly sensitive nature in any capacity, this place is guaranteed to make you uncomfortable and leave a sour taste in your mouth. Oh yea, and in the summer there are many wasps and the lawn behind Kyoto "A" House sometimes resembles a set location in "Platoon". There are some decent folks scattered about that make the experience a bearable one if you absolutely must live at Pacifico, though you should probably ask yourself what you've done to merit such a sentence before actually moving there. And yea, the water pumps are still an issue (there isn't much around these here parts that aren't). —Tomassi00
2008-03-06 01:28:15 i'm thinking of getting a room here for 08-09
how big of a hassle are the work hours?
i'm all for helping out but sometimes after spending a day on campus, i just want to close my door and be alone —fredchen
2008-06-06 16:35:26 I think the issues about the architecture of Pacifico raised on this page are interesting. A lot of the folks from different types of coops put a great deal of stock in the coop they liked being the "ideal" way to design a coop. But I have lived in coops which were in institutional buildings with very strong senses of community, and lovely multi-room historic houses with very poor ties between the members.
Pacifico falls more to the "institutional" end of the spectrum, which may be a turn off to some folks. But to others, it means the buildings are recently built and in good shape, and that they get the run of 19 living rooms, study rooms, and dining rooms. Me, I tend to like the "institutional" looking coops... they are big, and new, and you feel like you are "getting away with something" by having the freedom of control over these spaces.
(As a full disclosure, I also work for NASCO, and live at Pacifico in order to help the members bring about some changes. I have also lived at 21st Street coop in Austin TX, Sasona Coop in Austin, and Vail Coop in Ann Arbor, Michigan.) —DanielMiller
2008-06-06 16:41:34 @fredchen: the work hours, when things are working well, are less of a hassle than having to do all the housekeeping at bill-paying in your own apartment, because they should just be about an hour per week or predictable work, and you know that all of the other details are being taken care of by someone else. But, like most things that are run democratically, it is possible that the system has friction. But an hour per week is a pretty good estimate of how much time you will spend doing work hours.
As far as closing your door and being alone: well, the common areas are just that, and there may be people using them. But your own room would be your space, and I have never had a problem with being able to close my door to be left alone. The time spent with others is opt-in, as opposed to opt-out. —DanielMiller
2008-06-25 19:51:09 I am thinking about living in Pacifico too, But i am a guitar player, I usually keep my volume low, would the wall still too thin to contain my sound? —raysonk
2008-06-25 21:14:16 2005-11-23 23:00:34 I apologize for making the wack accusation...I realize that residents go into the co-op with different expectations, and I personally really enjoy the ability to, at times, get really involved and get to know other members of the house; then at other times, close my door, do my own thing and not have to socialize. In other words, I sorta see it as a good starter co-op. If you are really looking for a tight-knit commune, then yeah, you might be disappointed...but I was looking for part single-guy apartment, part cooperative, and a really affordable rent; and that's what I've experienced so far. Plus, I agree with E-Kong. —EddieGalbavy
You guys living there still agree to this??
2008-07-10 16:56:46 @raysonk: The different floors of the different buildings use different standards of what would be an acceptable noise level. Some of the floors do have musicians living on them, and others are strictly quiet. If the music was super-loud, or played very late, even the louder areas might complain, but the louder areas are more permissive than the average apartment complex, and you have the advantage of having a way to talk to your surrounding neighbors to find out what will and won't work. —DanielMiller
2009-07-27 19:50:28 After reading some of the mentioned comments I am quite reluctant to live here. Are there any recent tenants who can share some of their experiences? I will be curious to hear them. —AvidSpots
2009-10-23 18:57:21 Pacifico's greatest strength is its location. It is located 1.6 miles from the Silo bus terminal(and therefore most of campus).
Directly on the Davis Bike Path and the Putah Creek Greenbelt leading into the UC Davis Arboretum, the T. Elliot Weier Redwood Grove and the Wyatt Deck (Redwood deck and gazebo for music performances) the 25 minute walk or 12 minute bike ride to campus is the most picturesque commute to UC Davis available ANYWHERE in Davis.
With Safeway a four minute walk away, kaiser permanente across the street, downtown a twenty minute walk and the W and M line right there, its about as convenient as it gets.
Having grown up in an oak and redwood covered rural wine county, I really appreciated the VERY BEAUTIFUL SETTING and was impressed with the convenience.
2009-12-02 15:19:57 omg........ i just got a tour at pacifico um can you say hospital/boarding home the vibe in the air is dead that is not a fucking coop its a money maker business model - for stuffing students and who ever else will fucking move in —timlane
2010-11-08 16:46:16 I lived in Pacifico for while. I met a lot of awesome people there, and a few psychopaths. A major thing that made Pacifico unique from other co-ops is the fact the that the active residents didn't have any control over the new residents. This likely had a lot to do with the conflicts between residents and the lack of cooperation, but I'm not sure it was such a bad thing. I lived a with a lot of people I probably wouldn't have chosen to live with, but that was kind of different and cool. Despite all weirdness and conflicts, the place was fun, even if a little grimy, and living with crazy people can be kind of exciting. I hear it's become low income housing now, and perhaps that's for the best. I imagine it won't change the place much. —mindyswanson
2011-05-04 15:18:48 I've been the Property Manager for Pacifico through the California Center for Cooperative Development since 1/25/2011, and was interning there through NASCO in 2007. The Co-op has seen some substantial changes recently. Yolo County Housing has been performing lots of needed renovations across the property. Pacifico members have continued to improve their self-governance process, while at the same time working within a tighter structure than they've had previously.
I hope that with the support of CCCD, the Davis City Council, and most importantly from within Pacifico's members, that the co-op will thrive and develop. THat said, we have spots open now, and anyone interested should contact me at [email protected]. —JustinEllerby
2011-11-11 15:28:14 The comments left by Justin Ellerby (directly above) deserves qualification. Pacifico was fully open and operational before his arrival and has now been reduced to approximately half, both in residents and structures. If Mr. Ellerby or NASCO has anything to do with this place still, you would be well advised to stay clear. —Tomassi00
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