Need advice on Long Beach (Los Angeles, Garden Grove: rent, crime, house)

[tapsmedia]

Hi

I am being offered a position in Long Beach. I am Moving from Texas and live in a superb wooded area great for families. I have heard conflicting stories about California, Long Beach, high cost of living and gangs. Could you offer some objective advice ?

1. Traffic is hell? (I currently commute 1 hr for 30 mi)
2. My kids' school is graded a 7 out of 10. No gangs or anything (elementary)
3. I rent and plan on renting in CA
4. Is long beach a place for families? If not, where should I consider?
5. Heard Long Beach gets spillover Compton crime?
6. Long Beach is blue Collar and high heroin territory, refineries, industry
7. Beaches are contaminated and polluted.
8. Streets unsafe
9. Schools full of problems and gangs

[timelesschild]

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Try those. Belmont Shore, and eastern Long Beach in general, is the way to go.

[glinLongBeach]

Long Beach is a large city and part of a huge metropolitan area. It will be a major change from a wooded area in Texas.

1. Traffic in the greater L.A. area is not fun, but if you’re living and working in Long Beach, it shouldn’t be bad.

2. For the fifth time, the Long Beach Unified School District this year was named among the top five school systems in the nation by the Broad Foundation. Two schools (California Academy of Mathematics and Science and Hill Middle School) were named California “Distinguished Schools.” Most L.B. schools are ethnically and economically diverse.

3. Property values and rents tend to be high, especially in the better areas. That is by far the thing that raises the cost of living here (about 2.5 times prices in Dallas). Groceries and transportation will be about 10% higher here than Dallas, but utilities will be slightly less.

4. Long Beach has neighborhoods that are great for families and other neighborhoods that are dangerously crime-ridden. In general, the eastern side of L.B. and along the coast are “better” neighborhoods, but you’ll find pockets of nice neighborhoods elsewhere. There are a lot of activities for kids. The Parks and Recreation program has repeatedly won the gold medal for excellence from the National Parks and Recreation Society. There are programs for kids in sports, art, music, science, dance, history, you name it...

5. There might be a small amount of crime spillover in the northwestern-most part of L.B., but mostly I believe that Long Beach’s crime is home-grown.

6. Long Beach is a big place, the 36th largest city in the USA, covering about 66 square miles. It encompasses industrial areas, urban slums, downtown gentrification, transitional neighborhoods, working-class neighborhoods, suburban family tracts, and upscale gated communities. Any generalization would be inaccurate.

7. Los Angeles County beaches in general have some of the worst pollution in the state (per Heal the Bay’s annual pollution report), and Long Beach at the mouth of the Los Angeles river is one of the 10 worst. About half of the 25 monitoring stations in L.B. were graded less than A or B. The cleanest beaches are around Belmont Shores and Alamitos Bay

8. There are places in Long Beach where I’d be uneasy walking alone in the daytime and others where I feel safe walking alone at night. Where I live in the Los Altos/El Dorado Park South area, there are often women walking alone at night, and you can leave things out in your front yard without anyone walking away with them. Police cars are so rare that when one shows up, half the neighbors come out to see what’s happening. I don’t bother locking the house when I run to the store. Overall, the Long Beach crime level in 2006 was 3386 per 100,000 people, compared to a national average of 4479 per 100,000.

9. There are gangs in Long Beach, including Crips, Longos, and Asian gangs. It would be difficult to find a metro area in California without some gang activity. Most gang activity in Long Beach is centered in the central area (sometimes known as “Eastside”, from being just east of the L.A. river), west Long Beach, and parts of North Long Beach (roughly 90805 zip). No part of life in a gang neighborhood is going to be completely free from their influence, but gang activity tends to take place outside of schools. And the fact that there are gangs in Long Beach doesn’t mean that all schools are “full of problems and gangs.” Again, Long Beach is a big place; the amount of problems in the schools differs by neighborhood. Our neighbor with young kids’ biggest complaint about the schools is the large amount of homework assigned. Probably the biggest problem in Long Beach schools is the state budget; California ranks 47th in per pupil spending in the country.

[bhcompy]

Originally Posted by glinLongBeach

Long Beach is a large city and part of a huge metropolitan area. It will be a major change from a wooded area in Texas.

1. Traffic in the greater L.A. area is not fun, but if you’re living and working in Long Beach, it shouldn’t be bad.

2. For the fifth time, the Long Beach Unified School District this year was named among the top five school systems in the nation by the Broad Foundation. Two schools (California Academy of Mathematics and Science and Hill Middle School) were named California “Distinguished Schools.” Most L.B. schools are ethnically and economically diverse.

3. Property values and rents tend to be high, especially in the better areas. That is by far the thing that raises the cost of living here (about 2.5 times prices in Dallas). Groceries and transportation will be about 10% higher here than Dallas, but utilities will be slightly less.

4. Long Beach has neighborhoods that are great for families and other neighborhoods that are dangerously crime-ridden. In general, the eastern side of L.B. and along the coast are “better” neighborhoods, but you’ll find pockets of nice neighborhoods elsewhere. There are a lot of activities for kids. The Parks and Recreation program has repeatedly won the gold medal for excellence from the National Parks and Recreation Society. There are programs for kids in sports, art, music, science, dance, history, you name it...

5. There might be a small amount of crime spillover in the northwestern-most part of L.B., but mostly I believe that Long Beach’s crime is home-grown.

6. Long Beach is a big place, the 36th largest city in the USA, covering about 66 square miles. It encompasses industrial areas, urban slums, downtown gentrification, transitional neighborhoods, working-class neighborhoods, suburban family tracts, and upscale gated communities. Any generalization would be inaccurate.

7. Los Angeles County beaches in general have some of the worst pollution in the state (per Heal the Bay’s annual pollution report), and Long Beach at the mouth of the Los Angeles river is one of the 10 worst. About half of the 25 monitoring stations in L.B. were graded less than A or B. The cleanest beaches are around Belmont Shores and Alamitos Bay

8. There are places in Long Beach where I’d be uneasy walking alone in the daytime and others where I feel safe walking alone at night. Where I live in the Los Altos/El Dorado Park South area, there are often women walking alone at night, and you can leave things out in your front yard without anyone walking away with them. Police cars are so rare that when one shows up, half the neighbors come out to see what’s happening. I don’t bother locking the house when I run to the store. Overall, the Long Beach crime level in 2006 was 3386 per 100,000 people, compared to a national average of 4479 per 100,000.

9. There are gangs in Long Beach, including Crips, Longos, and Asian gangs. It would be difficult to find a metro area in California without some gang activity. Most gang activity in Long Beach is centered in the central area (sometimes known as “Eastside”, from being just east of the L.A. river), west Long Beach, and parts of North Long Beach (roughly 90805 zip). No part of life in a gang neighborhood is going to be completely free from their influence, but gang activity tends to take place outside of schools. And the fact that there are gangs in Long Beach doesn’t mean that all schools are “full of problems and gangs.” Again, Long Beach is a big place; the amount of problems in the schools differs by neighborhood. Our neighbor with young kids’ biggest complaint about the schools is the large amount of homework assigned. Probably the biggest problem in Long Beach schools is the state budget; California ranks 47th in per pupil spending in the country.

this pretty much sums it up

Long Beach is a huge city, and it has industry, oil, aviation, a major airport, etc. There is good and bad. Stick to the eastern portion of the city or Bixby Knolls/Virginia Country Club and you're fine.

[Jay100]

Long Beach is ghetto now. If you have to live nearby, try Seal Beach or Los Alamitos.

[NaplesRes]

Originally Posted by Jay100

Long Beach is ghetto now. If you have to live nearby, try Seal Beach or Los Alamitos.

This is an uniformed Moderator cut: unnecessary comment. As an example, I live in the Naples section of Long Beach which is more expensive and nice than both Seal Beach and Los Alamitos.

The other posters have given a good portrayal of Long Beach. It's a big city (ie bigger than Atlanta). You'll find a little bit of everything but if you're looking for a nice, safe suburban area with good schools I recommend the El Dorado Park section of the city.

[Paula Lynn]

With the exception of Jay100, all of the posters have given you excellent informed information and advise about our City of Long Beach.

[ucbedge]

I live in Belmont Shores. Personally, there is only very small pockets of LB that I would consider raising a family in. Naples, Belmont Heights, and the far southeastern edges bordering Lakewood. Personally, I would avoid anything in north or northeastern LB. The catch, of course, is that these areas are the most affordable (it would be hard to find a house under $500K in the nicer areas). NaplesRes probably owns a home worth $1M or more, for example.

If I were to raise a family and wanted to stay within 15 mins of LB, I would choose certain parts of Lakewood, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Cypress, or certain parts of Garden Grove bordering Cypress. All offer more of a "suburban" family-type atmosphere. And the school districts - esp those servicing Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, and Cypress - are generally considered to be superior to those in LB.

Originally Posted by NaplesRes

This is an uniformed Moderator cut: unnecessary comment. As an example, I live in the Naples section of Long Beach which is more expensive and nice than both Seal Beach and Los Alamitos.

The other posters have given a good portrayal of Long Beach. It's a big city (ie bigger than Atlanta). You'll find a little bit of everything but if you're looking for a nice, safe suburban area with good schools I recommend the El Dorado Park section of the city.

[NaplesRes]

Originally Posted by ucbedge

I live in Belmont Shores. Personally, there is only very small pockets of LB that I would consider raising a family in. Naples, Belmont Heights, and the far southeastern edges bordering Lakewood. Personally, I would avoid anything in north or northeastern LB. The catch, of course, is that these areas are the most affordable (it would be hard to find a house under $500K in the nicer areas). NaplesRes probably owns a home worth $1M or more, for example.

If I were to raise a family and wanted to stay within 15 mins of LB, I would choose certain parts of Lakewood, Los Alamitos, Seal Beach, Cypress, or certain parts of Garden Grove bordering Cypress. All offer more of a "suburban" family-type atmosphere. And the school districts - esp those servicing Seal Beach, Los Alamitos, and Cypress - are generally considered to be superior to those in LB.

not to be too defensive, but I think you might not know enough about LB. Bixby Knolls/Virginia Country Club does not fit your location criteria but are great family neighborhoods. They film movies in these neighborhoods (american pie, ferris bueller, etc) because they are so nice. Another example would be El Dorado as I mentioned. Doesn't fit your location criteria but is a great family neighborhood. I can't think of a more family suburban ares.

Finally on the schools thing, it is a big district. But it is a finalist for the Broad Prize every year. and if you live in the good neighborhoods of LB your kids are going to go to great schools. In fact many of them are better than the schools in Seal or Los Al. I would put Naples, Lowell, etc up against any elementary schools in the region. Same with Stanford, Rogers middle schools. I would even say that while Wilson doesn't get the respect locally that Los Al High gets, it should. It's ranked higher by Newsweek, has a better A/P program, and sends more kids to Ivy league schools. Wilson is big and diverse so the API test scores aren't as high but even still they are above average.

Generally speaking any East Long Beach neighborhood is going to be nice for a family. some are more expensive/tonier but they are all middle class or better.

[missionhome]

Originally Posted by NaplesRes

It's ranked higher by Newsweek, has a better A/P program, and sends more kids to Ivy league schools. Wilson is big and diverse so the API test scores aren't as high but even still they are above average.

Los Alamitos has 15% of its student body take an AP test. Wilson has 16.5% take an AP test. Yet Los Alamitos has much higher pass rates.

I would argue the AP Program is better at Los Alamitos. 74% of the AP tests taken at Los Alamitos were a passing score (score of 3 or better). 137 of the tests were a perfect score, a 5.

At Long Beach Wilson, only 54% of the tests taken were a passing score. Almost half of the tests taken were a waste of money on an $80 test and a failing score. Only 90 tests were a perfect score, a 5, even though Wilson had more test takers than Los Alamitos.

Sure Long Beach Wilson has MORE test takers and more exams taken (its a bigger school), but the consequence is that less of the exams taken are a passing score. Los Alamitos has 20% MORE exams that were a passing score. I believe that less students taking a test that actually pass is better than a bunch of students taking a program they can't handle or were not well prepared for and then failing.

All sources are directly from the California Department of Education's DATA QUEST:
http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/SAT/AP-4b.asp?cYear=2006-07&cSelect=Wilson^High^^^^^^^^^--Long^Beach^Unif--1964725-1939875&cChoice=AP4b&S=1
http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/SAT/AP-4b.asp?cYear=2006-07&cSelect=Los^Alamitos^High^^^--Los^Alamitos^Un--3073924-3033917&cChoice=AP4b&S=1