Tracy, California


Tracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, United States. The population was 82,922 at the 2010 census. Tracy is located inside a geographic triangle formed by Interstate 205 on the north side of the city, Interstate 5 to the east, and Interstate 580 to the southwest. Tracy's motto, included on the city's website, is: "Think Inside the Triangle".

History

Until the 1760s, the area that is now the city of Tracy was long populated by the Yokuts tribe of loosely associated bands of Native Americans and their ancestors. They lived on hunting and gathering foods, game and fish from the area, including its local rivers and creeks. After encountering the Spanish colonists, the Yokuts suffered from new infectious diseases, which caused social disruption, as did the Spanish efforts to impress them for labor at missions. Mexican and American immigrants later came into the area, further encroaching on the people's territory, waging armed conflict and enslaving some of the members. They pushed the Yokuts out.
Tracy developed from the mid-19th century construction of Central Pacific Railroad lines running from Sacramento through Stockton and to the San Francisco Bay Area. Tracy is part of the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area, an extension of the Bay Area. A number of small communities sprang up along these lines at designated station sites, including one named for railroad director Lathrop J. Tracy.
Incorporated in 1911, Tracy grew rapidly and prospered as the center of an agricultural area, even when as larger railroad operations began to decline in the 1950s. Competition with trucking and automobiles resulted in widespread railroad restructuring.
In December 1969, the town of Tracy was the host of the Altamont Free Concert, held at the Altamont Raceway Park. An estimated 300,000 people gathered at the speedway infield in an event that was plagued by violence among attendees, many of whom were drunk or drugged. Artists featured included the internationally known Rolling Stones, Santana, Jefferson Airplane, The Flying Burrito Brothers and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

Geography

Located in the Greater Bay Area, Tracy in near both fertile and infertile agricultural lands. Tracy has a Mediterranean climate.
Some of this land has come under increasing development pressure. The San Francisco Bay Area's vigorous population growth has spilled over into the Tracy area as well as other locations, such as the new town of Mountain House. Tracy passed Measure A in 1990 to try to contain and limit development.
In an effort to reduce environmental impacts of the city, it launched the Emerald Tracy Project in September 2009. City spokesman Matt Robinson said that if it succeeds, Tracy will be the second city after Riverside, California to satisfy the state's goal for sustainable communities.

Tire fire, south of Tracy

On August 7, 1998, a tire fire ignited at S.F. Royster's Tire Disposal south of Tracy at 29425 South MacArthur Drive, near Linne Road. The tire dump held more than 7 million illegally stored tires and was allowed to burn for over two years before it was extinguished. Allowing the fire to burn was considered to be a better way to avoid groundwater contamination than putting it out. The cleanup of chemicals released by the fire cost $16.2 million. The chemicals were found to have contaminated groundwater in the region after all.

Climate

Tracy is marked by a semi-arid climate, with mild, moist winters and very hot and dry summers, displaying Mediterranean characteristics. December and January are the coolest months, and average around 47.1 °F, and there are 19 nights with lows at or below freezing annually, with the coldest night of the year typically bottoming out below 30 °F. July is the warmest month, averaging 76.4 °F ; normally, there are 18 days of 100 °F + highs and 82 days of 90 °F + highs. Average annual precipitation is around 12.5 inches, which, by definition, results in the area being classified as a semi-desert.

Demographics

The 2010 United States Census reported that Tracy had a population of 82,922. The population density was 3,745.5 people per square mile. The racial makeup of Tracy was 43,724 White, 5,953 African American, 715 Native American, 12,229 Asian, 747 Pacific Islander, 13,173 from other races, and 6,381 from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 30,557 persons.
The Census reported that 82,606 people lived in households, 69 lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 247 were institutionalized.
There were 24,331 households, out of which 13,143 had children under the age of 18 living in them, 15,122 were opposite-sex married couples living together, 3,196 had a female householder with no husband present, and 1,627 had a male householder with no wife present. There were 1,501 unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 184 same-sex married couples or partnerships. 3,326 households were made up of individuals and 1,026 had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.40. There were 19,945 families ; the average family size was 3.72.
The population was spread out with 26,668 people under the age of 18, 7,476 people aged 18 to 24, 23,826 people aged 25 to 44, 19,202 people aged 45 to 64, and 5,750 people who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32.3 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.9 males.
There were 25,963 housing units at an average density of 1,172.7 per square mile, of which 16,163 were owner-occupied, and 8,168 were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.5%; the rental vacancy rate was 5.9%. 54,275 people lived in owner-occupied housing units and 28,331 people lived in rental housing units.

Government and infrastructure

The United States Postal Service operates the Tracy Post Office and the Tracy Carrier Annex.
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation operates the Deuel Vocational Institution, a state prison, in unincorporated San Joaquin County, near Tracy

School districts

Three public school districts serve the city of Tracy. The largest and most recognized is the Tracy Unified School District. This school system incorporates many elementary and middle schools as well as six Tracy high schools: Tracy High School, Merrill F. West High School, Delta Charter High School, Millennium Charter High School, John C. Kimball High School, and Mountain House High School, which opened in 2014. However, Mountain House High School is open only to Mountain House residents.
Tracy's students with behavioral issues attend the Willow Community Day School, and the Tracy One Program, or Community One. The other two school districts are: Lammersville Joint Unified School District and Jefferson School District. The latter covers the south side of Tracy and includes four schools: Jefferson Middle School, Tom Hawkins Elementary School, Monticello Elementary School and Anthony C. Traina School.

Transportation

Public transportation

Tracy is served by several bus services: locally, Tracer runs four lines that serve as circulators between major transit hubs, shopping, school, residential, and downtown areas. San Joaquin Regional Transit District runs two local routes that connect the city with other San Joaquin County communities, and six commuter services that run to Dublin/Pleasanton BART station and job centers in the South Bay and Livermore, California.
Naglee Park and Ride Lot by the West Valley Mall serves as a major commuter hub to BART and jobs in the South Bay. Greyhound, Tracer, and SMART all connect with taxis, bike stations, and parking at the Tracy Transit Center, a transit station built in 2010.
Amtrak Buses connect serve the city's Amtrak Bus Station to the area with six daily trips to the South Bay and two to San Francisco, all of which stop at BART and job centers in Livermore.
To meet the future transportation needs, which will connect San Joaquin Valley with the Bay Area, there are two Transit Stations in Tracy. One is located downtown and is designated for bus service, but is being considered as a possible site for California High-Speed Rail.
South Tracy offers the Altamont Corridor Express service at Tracy, which provides commuter rail transportation to the Bay Area and connects with VTA in San Jose, BART via shuttle in Dublin and Fremont, in addition to Amtrak train in Santa Clara and San Jose.

Major highways

passes along the north side of the city and connects the nearby Interstates 580 to the west and 5 on the east, with the three Interstates forming a triangle around much of the city. Business Loop 205 runs through the center of Tracy along 11th Street, formerly a portion of U.S. Highway 50. In addition, the northern terminus of State Highway 33 is located at South Bird Road and Interstate 5 southeast of Tracy.

Aviation

Tracy is served by Tracy Municipal Airport, located south of the city. It serves general aviation; there is no scheduled airline service from the airport.

Local media

Tracy's daily newspaper is the Tracy Press, a once-weekly newspaper owned since the 19th century by the Matthews family. Bilingual Weekly News covers Tracy in English and Spanish.

Sister cities

Tracy has been a sister city of Memuro, Hokkaido since 1989. The city is also a sister city of Velas in the Azores.

Media exposure