Santee on Wikipedia (Or Vice Versa)

One of the first things taught in journalism school these days is that Wikipedia is not a legitimate source. But, what is often misunderstood is that the ubiquitous online encyclopedia is one of the most open, free and cross-edited portals to original sources on the internet. Most every fact on the site is sourced to an official webpage, book, article or other traditionally accepted means of information.

And, nearly every topic an encyclopedia could cover, and then some, has a page on the site- including Santee!

The Santee page, an accurate snapshot of the city, leads with this favorable description:

"In 2010, the city was populated by 19,272 households, of which 64 percent had incomes greater than $45,000 annually. In 2009, the median household income was $78,872 per year, according to the San Diego Association of Governments. In 2010, Santee had one of the lowest crime rates among cities in San Diego County. Unlike most of the county's coastal cities, Santee still has sizable portions of vacant land suitable for development."

My research on articles, doesn't stop with Wikipedia, of course, but often times, especially when I first started reporting on Santee, I use it as the quickest source to finding key facts that can be further verified.

Below you'll find a listing of Santee related people, places and things found on the city's page that are "important" enough to have their own links to their own Wiki pages:

Recreational Attractions

Santee Boulders

Notable Persons From Santee

Stephen Strasburg - MLB player

Dat Phan - Standup comedian

Paul Beahan - Founder of underground music label Manimal Records

History

George A. Cowles - Ranching pioneer in the San Diego area, Cowles mountain named after him.

Milton Santee doesn't have a Wikipedia page, though the city was named after him. Which would you rather have?

Transportation

Green Line - The trolley line that terminates at Santee.

Santee Trolley Station

Gillespie Field

Politics

California state Senator Joel Anderson (District 36)

California state Assemblyman Brian Jones (District 77)

Congressman Duncan D. Hunter (District 52)

Demographics

Wikipedia provides a local breakdown of the 2010 Census numbers and includes a handy chart of the city's population, and an estimate of the area's population before Santee became a city in 1981:

Source: Wikipedia collection of US Census Beureau data

Schools

Santee School District

Grossmont Union High School District

Santana High School

West Hills High School

Santee features that could use a Wikipedia Page

Mission Trails

Santee Lakes

You can help add to or edit the Santee page or create your own Wikipedia pages for people, places or things that don't have one.

As the site explains: "Anyone with Internet access can write and make changes to Wikipedia articles (except in certain cases where editing is restricted to prevent disruption or vandalism)." 

What other Santee features do you think should have a Wikipedia page?