Is California a good place to live in anymore? (San Diego: crime rates, how much)

[Sassberto]

Originally Posted by Mach50

We plan to stay here for 3-4 more years, sell our house and move to enroll our daughter in New York schools though, the schools out here are lacking compared to the North East, that is our only real issue with Cal.

I'm in the same boat. I love it here but the schools really are terrible. And yes CA has some great schools but only in the wealthiest areas. In the Northeast even working and middle class areas have access to amazing schools.

Case in point: the elementary school I went to on Long Island had a dedicated art teacher and music teacher with a separate room for each, full of supplies. The school we are looking at for our son, a top-rated elementary in a very wealthy area of San Diego cannot compare at all, and the parents donate money just to get an "art cart" that comes around once a week.

[Baron von Costume]

Originally Posted by Charles

The schools are pretty good in most of the "upper 10% of neighborhoods", I'd say. The cost of housing per square foot has been dropping even in the better neighborhoods. It is possible to live in a place with good schools and housing may become a little more affordable to the median income earners.

The one thing I can't see getting much better is traffic. Of course, if gas goes to $8-$10/gal then I suppose traffic will be better but $8-$10/gal gas would be a big price to pay for less traffic.

You're joking, right? You're right that the tiny handful of "good schools" available are SUPERB. But if you aren't, for example, living in Palo Alto or the Monta Vista district of Cupertino, you are going to be going to a crumbling school with poor test scores, bare bones extra-curriculars, etc.

And "affordable?" I looked at the current listings in Palo Alto, and there are exactly SIX listings under a million dollars - the largest of which is 1200 square feet. It has a lot less than 4000 feet square. And it's 995,000 so, probably will end up over a million.

[Charles]

Originally Posted by Baron von Costume

if you aren't, for example, living in Palo Alto or the Monta Vista district of Cupertino, you are going to be going to a crumbling school with poor test scores, bare bones extra-curriculars, etc.

Below are some candidate neighborhoods which have 1) Pretty good school scores and 2) SFR homes in the $300-$350/sqft range (and falling). These first five below I have either lived in or would consider living in (because there are jobs for me near them) a few years from now if prices get lower.


Thousand Oaks

California School Performance Maps

Huntington Beach

California School Performance Maps

Simi Valley/Moorpark

California School Performance Maps

Aliso Viejo/Mission Viejo

California School Performance Maps

Irvine

California School Performance Maps

La Crescenta

California School Performance Maps

Los Alamitos

California School Performance Maps

South Pasadena/San Marino

California School Performance Maps

[Baron von Costume]

Charles:

I confess, I was pretty much thinking of the Bay area, not Southern California. We left Orange County several years ago, so I am not as familiar with the markets/schools down there as I am with Northern California.

[Happy Cells]

Oh, California is just fine!

Never mind all the bad news, it's just a load of anti-Cali baloney.

[bluewatergirl888]

Why is it that the school systems are so bad in California?

[Charles]

Originally Posted by bluewatergirl888

Why is it that the school systems are so bad in California?

Not really true "in California"...In places where there are a lot of kids for whom English is a second language, the schools test scores are lower. Probably was the case in the New York boroughs 90 years ago when the Poles, Italians, Irish, Germans, etc migrated to the US. They and their kids later put a man on the moon.

[bhcompy]

First: Poor parenting.

The rest: Poor management of funds, stressing mediocrity in the classroom, large numbers of students with a poor grasp of english(not intended as a racist remark), too many students and not enough schools/classrooms/teachers, etc.

[Baron von Costume]

Originally Posted by Charles

Not really true "in California"...In places where there are a lot of kids for whom English is a second language, the schools test scores are lower. Probably was the case in the New York boroughs 90 years ago when the Poles, Italians, Irish, Germans, etc migrated to the US. They and their kids later put a man on the moon.

I don't think it's quite so rosy as that. The problems in the schools I know are not restricted to those with a lot of ESL kids, and go way, way beyond poor test scores. Test scores are just the most obvious measure of how bad the schools are.

In one man's opinion (me ), the problems of the California schools, at least in the SF Bay area, arise because:

1) Proposition 13 and its offspring have shifted the tax burden away from homeowners and, more importantly, business property owners. This means that large capital projects - upgrading/repairing buildings, for example - MUST be done with massive bonds and borrowing, and gets put off until the bills are huge.

2) Too many non-English speakers (as Charles says) puts an enormous strain on what can be taught in the classes, and strains the already stretched budgets.

3) Lowered/watered down standards on academic performance, and the forcing into schools of non-academic programmes (basically, social work)

4) Bad parenting that is part of a larger cultural slide, as well as the fact that the cost of living is just so damned high, parents need to work more and thus have less time for their childrens' academics.

[GameHog9]

Ive been all over the country, from Waikiki to NYC, and I have to say that I really admire San Diego. Somewhere in the size of Seattle, another city I like, plus the waterfront. Traffic isn't anywhere as bad as LA or NYC, and the housing is definitely better than New York (5,000 a month in Manhattan!).

Ive heard that the Bay is definitely the city of California. By the way, a teacher here commented on the horrible education in the LA area.